


Isn't It Romantic?

by justffantasy



Category: The Society (TV 2019)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Grizzam, M/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy, isn't it romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2020-05-20 13:49:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19377982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justffantasy/pseuds/justffantasy
Summary: Grizz doesn't believe in true love. From a young age, he's been told that he'll never have it. But when he hits his head and ends up in a whole new world, he finds that true love may be more real than he realized.-





	1. True Love Isn't Real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is based loosely off of Isn't It Romantic, the movie. Enjoy!

Grizz watched the movie screen in front of him with wide eyes, attention completely captured by the bright movie in front of him. Julia Roberts stood there in her white dress, hair pulled around to one side of her neck and a smile on her face. With admiration the ten year old watched, criss-cross on the floor and hugging a blanket to his chest. Biting his lip, he imagined what it would be like to be in her place. He didn’t notice his mother behind him, watching his fascination with an unamused disinterest. She sat down on the yellow stained couch behind him, and he didn’t move, not aware of her presence until he heard her nasally voice speak, interrupting the movie.

“Don’t get too caught up in those kinds of movies, Gareth.” 

“Hmm?” He responded, and it was obvious that he wasn’t really paying attention. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t listening, or maybe just the movie itself that bothered her- whatever the case, her voice became louder almost instantly and had a cold edge to it, pulling Grizz completely out of the motion picture. 

“It’s not real, and you shouldn’t be watching this, anyway. Boys don’t watch romantic movies."

“What do you mean, it’s not real?” His voice came out in a high-pitched whine, and he stopped and swallowed, clearing his throat. “It’s real. It can happen!” He nodded as if that would help her, show her that yes, true love is real. How could it not be? Why would there be so many movies and books about something that didn’t exist?

She scoffed, and took a long drink from the wine glass in her hand before responding.

“It’s not real. It doesn’t happen to people like us, and it’s better just to accept that and move on.”

“People like us?” He repeated, and she paused, before gesturing around the house and giving him a tight smile that made Grizz shift and look around as well. The stairs were sunken in the middle, worn down so that the dark brown had turned into a light one. The walls were a dirty off-white and looked like that hadn’t been cleaned in years, and the aging carpet had paint stains as well as mud from Grizz’ previous exploration in the forest before lunch. The TV itself was barely working, and the house creaked with every shift of the wind. But this was his home, and Grizz didn’t really understand what she meant. They had a garden outside, and he grew vegetables out there, and while the furniture in their house was old, the huge bookshelf held almost all of his books and would continue to do so for years to come. The forest was practically in their backyard, and his mom was there. What else really did they need?

“People like us,” she said again, like that would make him understand. He didn’t, but this time, he let it be, focusing on something else. 

“Maybe it is real, though. I think everyone should have a true love,” he said tentatively, and she laughed, setting down her plastic wine glass on the table and leaning forward on the old couch. 

“Come here, Grizzy baby.” She murmured, and Grizz wrapped the blanket around himself tightly and scooted over across the floor, sitting down right in front of her and looking up at her. She reached out, brushing his hair behind his ear and tilting his chin up with her fingers. He felt his breath stop, watching the intensity in her gaze and trying to ignore the smell of alcohol on her breath. She paused for just a second, and he thought he saw a flash of sadness go through her brown eyes before they hardened again. 

“True love isn’t real. Those movies aren’t real. Get those ideas out of your head.” She enunciated the last four words with sharp taps to his temple, and then pulled away, and he felt something in his chest drop as she picked up the remote and clicked it, turning on a football game that was playing. “Now, no more watching any of those silly movies. They’re absolutely ridiculous. This is what you should be watching.”

“Okay,” he heard himself say, and turned around, not paying attention to the game whatsoever.


	2. A Crazy Lady and a Lamp Post

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever something is in Italics with quotes, it means that it's just signed, with little to no words being spoken. When there are italics without quotes, it's thoughts or memories.

*16 YEARS LATER*

 

“Grizz, dude, get UP,” Luke shouted, and Grizz shouted something unintelligible back at him and didn’t move. The sheets were strewn all around his legs, and when he peeked out of the pillow that he was hiding his face in he could see that it was 8 AM. _Maybe I can sleep for 15 more minutes and skip breakfast._

“Don’t even think about it,” Clark’s voice came from somewhere behind him, and then a pillow hit his head and he groaned. “Aren’t you the one that always says ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’?” 

“How do you even know that I wanted to skip?” Grizz muttered, and Clark threw another pillow at his head.

“Because you do this every Monday. Come on, let’s go. Move it, move it, move it!” The dark haired boy yanked open the curtains and Grizz threw the sheets over his head, only to have them yanked off a second later. “I’m not gonna be late because you don’t wanna get up. Luke’s making bacon and eggs, and-”

“Shower in five!” Came Jason’s voice, and Clark laughed. 

“And Jason’s gonna steal all the hot water if you don’t go first.” 

“Shit,” Grizz groaned again, and then rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes. 

“Grizz is up!” Clark called, and there was a sudden stillness in the house. 

Then, Jason’s voice. “Oh, shit.” Grizz let out a shout and darted toward the bathroom, at the same time hearing Jason’s pounding footsteps. The two boys ran down the hallway at the same time, and Grizz made it halfway through the door before Jason’s arms wrapped around his waist and lifted him up, dumping him on the ground and slipping halfway into the bathroom. Grizz grabbed his foot and pulled hard, and Jason let out a yelp as his huge figure crashed to the hardwood floor of the apartment, rolling and springing back up to his feet only to grab Grizz and pull him back from the door. Grizz let out a grunt as he hit the wall in the narrow hallway, and ducked out from under the headlock that Jason had him in, but it was too late, the white door slamming in his face as Jason vanished into the bathroom. 

“Jason!” Grizz shouted, pounding on the door. “If you use all the hot water again, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

 

~

 

The drive to work went pretty much the same, and Grizz was glad to be out of the loud car as Clark dropped him off and the three of them drove away together. Clark and Jason both worked as personal trainers, and Luke was studying law at NYU. Grizz had insisted that since they live together they carpool to work, too- there was no need to contribute more to the planet dying when they were all going the same way, anyway. 

Originally, Grizz hadn’t planned to go to the big city, but when the three other boys had mentioned that they were all going to share an apartment (or, should he say, brought the fact up whenever possible until Grizz gave in) he had decided to come give it a try. He didn’t think it compare to the forest late at night, stars glimmering, or the peaceful noise of the countryside, but he was also glad for the experience and happy to have his friends from high school still around. And now he had a pretty solid job, and friends at his work that he didn’t think he could live without. Specifically, a certain red-headed boy that made Grizz’s palms get clammy and his heart jump into his throat. Not that he knew that.

Grizz carefully stepped over a bunch of trash and litter as he made his way into the tall building, taking a drink from his coffee and letting out a breath. Today was supposed to be his big presentation, showing off the idea that he had been stewing on for a while. It was nothing big, his assignment just a stupid little parking garage, but he was hoping that soon it would be enough to show everyone that he was worth taking a chance on. He was worth a bigger project, more work, and (hopefully) much better pay. He was hoping that maybe he could move into his own apartment soon. The guys were great, but sometimes he needed a little peace and quiet. Maybe just down the hall from them. 

A man in a gray suit shoved past him, and Grizz shook his head, allowing himself to come back to reality and head up the elevator. As soon as he was on his floor, he was immediately overwhelmed by the noise. 

“Hey, Grizz, can you throw this away for me? I’m just, you know, so busy. Thanks,” Harry said as Grizz passed him, holding up a paper plate with a coffee cup, dirty napkins and plastic utensils on it. Grizz bit his lip to keep from saying something and just grabbed the trash, dumping it in the bin with a sigh and continuing on his way. 

“I’m busy, too,” he muttered when he was out of earshot, and shifted his books and papers into his other hand as he grabbed a muffin from the counter. 

“Grizz! Hey, the 3-D printer is down again. Can you call the IT guy? It’s kind of a problem.” Dewey leaned lazily against the counter, eating a bagel, and Grizz raised his eyebrows at him.

“Isn’t that your job?” 

“Mm,” was Dewey’s only response, and Grizz rolled his eyes, turning away and walking toward his desk in the corner by the window. “Tell him it won’t even turn on now!” Dewey called after him, and all Grizz did was give him a dismissive wave of his hand before setting his stuff down on his desk. 

“Hey, Becca, can you give me an estimate on the project I showed you yesterday?” Grizz said as he pulled out his papers and typed his password into the old computer. No response greeted him, and he sat down in his spinny chair and flicked a piece of balled up paper at Becca’s head. The brunette pulled out her earbuds and paused the movie she had been watching on her computer, turning around with a guilty look on her face. 

“Another movie? Why don’t you do some actual work for once?” Grizz’s voice had a teasing tone, one that made it clear he wasn’t actually mad. Behind Becca, he could see Adam Sandler talking to Drew Barrymore, and it took him a minute before he recognized the movie. _The Wedding Singer._ He raised his eyebrows at her, looking deeply amused. “Don’t you ever get sick of rom-coms?”

Becca gasped loudly and put a hand on her chest like it was the most offensive thing that Grizz could have said. “Get sick of them? Please.”

“They’re so stupid,” Grizz shook his head and turned, pulling up his files on the computer. 

“ _What?_ How can you think they’re stupid? They’re sweet,” she argued, now fully facing Grizz. When Grizz didn’t respond, distracted by his documents on the screen, she waved her hands in front of his face expectantly. “What’s so stupid about them?” 

“They’re all lies. I mean, true love isn’t a thing. It doesn’t happen like that,” he shrugged, turning to face her and tucking his long hair behind his ear. “Come on. The girls always wake up with like, perfect hair and perfect makeup. And they montage _everything._ And the main girl, she’s always so clumsy and shit, and everyone thinks it’s cute. When I fall down the stairs, I get coffee on my shirt and a dozen people staring at me like I’m crazy.” 

“Not to mention the fact that there’s like, no HR in the businesses in rom-com world.” Grizz continued an hour later as he made coffee for the both of them, Becca watching him with raised eyebrows and an expression that pretty much said she was sorry she had asked the question in the first place. “There’s no diversity, and coworkers are always boning each other. Oh! And not the mention the gay best friend, whose soul purpose is to help the story along. As a gay guy, that’s totally offensive,” he scoffed. “I mean, what about him and his life? No one cares.”

“And then, they always have some stupid voiceover that comes on that tells you what you’re supposed to think.” Another hour had passed, and Becca was eating her sandwich and only half paying attention to what he was saying now. 

“For someone who hates romantic movies, you’ve sure thought about this a lot,” she observed, and he ignored the comment, continuing. 

“And what about the stupid like, slow-motion running they always have at the end of the movie?” He pretended to run in slow motion, lifting his legs up and putting them back down really slowly. Becca snorted and threw a piece of turkey at him. “And they’re running to like, stop a wedding or get their ‘true love’ back. You know what I think? If he’s marrying someone else, he doesn’t love you. That’s why he’s not marrying _you.”_

“He does love you,” Becca argued, and then there was a little knock on the wall as Sam walked over to them, a smile on his face. Grizz swallowed, and Becca wiggled her eyebrows at him as Sam came over and sat down in the empty chair beside Becca. 

“What’re we talking about?” The blue-eyed boy asked, signing as well, and Grizz rolled his eyes as Becca spoke to Sam, making him sound like the worst person in the world. 

“Grizz is saying that romantic comedies are stupid and bad. For three hours.” 

“Yeah, cause they are!” He exclaimed, looking at Sam like he was expecting back up. Instead, Sam stared at him, shock in his gaze. 

“Are you kidding? Have you seen Sweet Home Alabama? Or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?” Sam shook his head in disappointment at Grizz. “They’re the best!” 

Grizz groaned and spun his chair around. “Not you, too.” He grumbled as Becca high-fived Sam, and Sam just laughed. 

“He just hates happy endings,” Becca said to Sam, shooting a pointed look at Grizz, and Grizz shook his head. 

“It’s not the end, though! They just stop it there. It’s not realistic. They stop it because everything that happens after that point is, like, crap. And nobody would want to see that.”

“I think it just shows how beautiful and lovely life can be,” Becca argued, and Grizz just shook his head. 

 _“Hey, so, I know you don’t really like movies that much, but would you maybe wanna go catch the new Men in Black movie with me after work?”_ Sam signed to him, barely speaking, and Grizz shook his head distractedly.

 _“No, thanks.”_ Grizz signed back absentmindedly. _“Besides, I haven’t seen the other ones.”_ Sam just nodded, looking a little bummed, and Grizz gave him a small smile. _“Sorry.”_

 _“It’s fine,”_ Sam signed back, and stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he said aloud, and turned, jogging back to his desk for a minute. 

“Dude. You’re totally cockblocking yourself,” Becca said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“What?” Grizz said, looking up from his paperwork once again and only really half listening to the conversation now. His presentation was in ten minutes, and he was really nervous, drinking his too-hot coffee and wincing at the burn.  

“Sam. He totally likes you!” Becca’s voice was filled with enthusiasm, and her movements were excited, grabbing Grizz’s hands and pulling him away from his work. “And you keep shooting him down.”

“Sam doesn’t like me,” Grizz laughed, shaking his head and feeling like he was in high school again, talking about who likes who. “I catch him looking over here all the time, at the stupid billboard.” He nodded to the billboard right outside of his window, of a dark-haired model with a six-pack wearing swim shorts. 

“He totally-” she started again, and Grizz shushed her as Sam came back and sat down in the empty chair, holding out a chocolate-chip cookie to Grizz. 

“What’s this for?” He asked, hands pausing in their signing to take the cookie from Sam. 

“Your presentation,” Sam said back, smiling at him. “You think I forgot? You’ve been anxious about it this whole week. And you’ve been staring at that same document for ten minutes and getting nothing done.” 

 _“Thanks.”_ Grizz signed with a smile, ignoring Becca’s pointed look toward him and taking a bite out of the cookie. Sam bit his lip and looked down, eyes crinkling up with happiness. Grizz opened his mouth to speak but jumped as the timer on his phone went off, signalling that the meeting was about to start and he should really get in there. “Oh, god. I don’t think I can do this,” Grizz said, and Sam stood, reaching out and ruffling his hair. 

“You’ve got this.” Sam nodded at him and gave him an encouraging thumbs up, and Grizz just shook his head back at him and brought his long legs up onto the spinny chair, wrapping his arms around them. 

“Nope. Maybe I just shouldn’t go.” Grizz said anxiously, and Sam grabbed the back of his chair and began pushing it towards the conference room. 

“You’re going!” Sam exclaimed as he pushed Grizz down the hallway, and Grizz couldn’t help but laugh, pushing at him and trying to stop the chair as it rolled with gaining speed. 

“Stop! Sam, stop it!” His hands went behind him, trying to hit Sam’s face (not hard, of course) and distract him from making him go. “Sam!” 

“Gentlemen.” His boss’s voice boomed, and Grizz stopped laughing immediately, sitting up straight and clearing his throat. Sam, noticing Grizz had shut up, looked up and immediately stepped away from the chair that he had been pushing. “Are you going to join us for our _professional_ meeting, Gareth?” 

“Yes,” Grizz replied, and his voice squeaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” His boss shot a disapproving glance at Sam, and then turned, vanishing into the meeting room. Grizz took another anxious drink of his coffee and glanced nervously at Sam. The younger boy gave him two thumbs-up and Grizz smiled, doing it back and turning into the meeting room as well. Almost immediately, he felt his coffee cup get lifted out of his hands, and he watched in surprise as the golden-blonde haired man in front of him took it without looking up from his phone.

“Thanks,” he said, and took a drink of it. Almost immediately he spat it out, wrinkling his nose and looking over at Grizz. “Who puts that much sugar into coffee? Get me a new one, will you? Just black. And a bagel, thanks.” He handed it to Grizz and went back to his phone. 

“Oh, actually, I don’t- I’m not-” Grizz started, but his boss just glared at him, and Grizz bit his lip, mentally groaning. “Yes, sir.” 

Twenty minutes later he pushed through a couple, four coffees in his hand and Sam tagging along after him. 

“It’s unbelievable, you know? This jerk is who I’m supposed to be proposing my ideas to. And I’m fetching him coffee. That is _not_ how this meeting was meant to go,” Grizz fumed, holding on tight to the cup holder so that he didn’t spill and making sure he was looking at Sam so the red-head could read his lips. 

“Maybe that’s why you don’t like romantic movies,” Sam observed, and Grizz paused, slowing down a little in his walking to look at him. 

“Huh?” 

“You’re totally blind to love,” Sam continued, and Grizz fully stopped now, facing him and tilting his head. 

“What do you mean?”

“You totally busted through that potential new couple. They were having a moment, you know? They accidentally touch hands, look into each other’s eyes, and bam. Fall in love. And you completely ran through them.” 

“No I didn’t,” Grizz argued, but looking back at the two that were still talking despite his interruption, he noticed that he had, in fact, ran straight through them without realizing. 

“You’re totally blind to it. I think it would be a little more fun for you if you opened yourself up to experience,” Sam tilted his head, blue eyes catching the light as he watched Grizz. Grizz tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and for a moment he wished he could just stay like this, and keep having this moment where it was just him and Sam. There was a long pause, and Grizz made himself look away, clearing his throat and starting to walk again. 

“I’m open, I’m just not naive.” Grizz said, and then stopped and groaned. “Shit. I forgot the bagel. You go on ahead, okay? I’m gonna go back.”

“You sure?” Sam asked, and Grizz nodded, shooing him as best he could while holding the coffees and digging through his bag for money. “Okay. See you when you get back.” With that, Sam walked on, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Grizz turned, headed the other way, and set down the coffees for a minute to grab his wallet out of his messenger bag. He pulled it off his head, digging through the bag until he found it, and then stood up. Before he could slip it back over his head, he noticed a tall woman walking towards him, a smile on her face as she jogged over. 

“Hi!” She said, and he raised his eyebrows curiously. 

“Uh, hi?”

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at him and tilting her head with a little smile. Unfazed, Grizz shook his head. She flicked her blonde hair behind her shoulder and nodded. “I do! I swear I do. Come on, you don’t recognize me?” She stepped a little closer, and he had to stop himself from taking a step back. 

“No, I don’t think-” he started, and she snatched his bag from his hands, taking off at a run. “Hey!” He shouted, sprinting after her with panic in his steps. Within a couple of seconds he had caught up to her (perks of being one of the star football players in high school) and grabbed her arm, yanking her backwards and grabbing at his bag. She pulled it just out of his reach, and the face he thought might’ve been pretty twisted into an ugly snarl as she smacked him in the face. 

“Give it to me!” She shouted, and he ignored her, trying his best not to hit her while at the same time pulling her back so she couldn’t run away with it. “Bitch!” She yelled as she tried to run and he grabbed her leg. Nobody around them batted an eye, and in New York, it was easy to understand why. Nobody really cared. _I hate the city,_ he thought as he finally wrestled it away from her and took off in the other direction. 

“Ha!” He shouted back at her, turning partially to see her. She flipped him off from where she stood, hair now a mess and anger on her face. Then, suddenly, the anger changed into triumph, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Frowning in confusion he turned, just in time to see the lamp post as he slammed into it and his world went dark. 


	3. PG-13

The first thing that Grizz noticed when he woke up was that the hospital room smelled like lavender. The second was the incredibly hot doctor standing over him and speaking in a British accent, voice soothing like hot chocolate on a cold winter day. He had dark stubble and dark, fluffy hair, with brown eyes that seemed warm and friendly. 

“How are you feeling?” The doctor asked, and Grizz practically melted, not responding at first.

“What?” He asked dumbly, and the doctor laughed, setting down his clipboard and picking up a little flashlight. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Oh. Um,” Grizz paused, and for the first time realized that he felt absolutely fine. Tentatively, he touched his head, but there was nothing there. No bruise, no cut, nothing. “I feel… fine.” He murmured, squinting in confusion. “What’s going on?”

“Well, you took quite a nasty fall.” The doctor checked his eyes, and then clicked off the flashlight, leaning back and smiling at him. Grizz looked around the room curiously, eyebrows pulled together as he surveyed the room. The walls were a pretty baby blue color, and there were flowers on his bedside table- _Who brought me flowers?_ \- and a TV in the corner. Everything looked clean and nice, and the bed underneath him was unbelievably comfortable. “You know, you’re quite handsome,” the doctor said, almost to himself, and Grizz snapped back to reality, startled. 

“What?”

“You’re quite handsome,” he said again, studying Grizz with a smile on his face. Grizz stared at him, the confusion starting to come back.

“Uh, thanks,” he said, and scooted into an upright position on the bed. “Um, am I free to go?” 

“Oh, yeah!” The doctor said. “Unfortunately, when you fell, your clothes got a little ripped up, so we got you some from the lost and found.” 

Five minutes later Grizz was standing outside in the nicest clothes he had ever owned, besides a suit. He was wearing brown boots with blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a brown jacket over it. Despite his height, everything seemed to fit perfectly, and he was pretty happy with the outfit overall. “This, I can work with,” he murmured, putting on his sunglasses and looking around the New York city streets in confusion. There were flowers everywhere, and it still smelled like lavender and strangely enough, chamomile tea. It made Grizz sleepy, and a content feeling settled over him. However, it didn’t completely displace the confused emotions that were brushing over him like a light breeze. Confused, but not alarmed. 

“When did New York become less shitty?” He murmured to himself, watching as a couple walked their little tea-cup chihuahua, holding hands and talking amongst themselves. Now that he thought about it, everyone around him seemed to be a couple, two people making out on the bench down the street and two teenage girls sitting at a coffee table outside, the girl smiling abashedly and tucking her hair behind her ear. There was no litter, no gum stuck on the pavement, no homeless people sitting on street corners. The air didn’t smell like cigarette smoke and cheap perfume, and the sidewalk didn’t even look dirty. Suddenly, a car pulled up to the stoplight in front of him, window rolled down, and Grizz could hear the beginning notes of _A Thousand Miles_ beginning to play. The driver reached over and turned it up, and Grizz couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up and out of his mouth. _You’re kidding._ He felt like he was in one of those movies he had been complaining about earlier. 

Stepping onto the street, he started walking across, taking everything in with a now amused bewilderment, not hearing the car that was speeding down the road towards him until it was a foot away. He turned, and suddenly was hit with the (surprisingly gentle?) force of the car, only stumbling back a few steps as it jerked to a halt. “What the hell, man?” He said before he could stop himself, rubbing his side.

“I am so sorry,” came a familiar yet strange voice. Grizz’s nose scrunched as he looked up, trying to place the voice. As soon as the man came into sight, Grizz stopped, tilting his head. 

“I’m so sorry,” the man said again, in a thick Austrailian accent. 

“Why are you… why is your voice like that?” Grizz asked slowly, and the man chuckled, an uncertain smile on his face. 

“Like what?”

“Austrailian,” Grizz spoke bluntly, and the man’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Because I’m Austrailian?” 

“No,” Grizz contradicted, and then shook his head like that would clear his head. “This morning you weren’t, when you stole my coffee?” Staring at him, Grizz remembered the whole exchange from this morning, the very reason overall why he had hit his head and ended up in the hospital in the first place. 

“I think I would remember meeting someone like you,” he countered, and Grizz paused in the middle of saying his next sentence.

“Someone like me?” He asked cautiously, certain that this was not going to end well for his self-esteem. 

“Striking. Handsome.” The man clarified, and Grizz blinked stupidly back at him. “I’m Dylan,” he offered Grizz a hand, and Grizz shook it, taking note absentmindedly of the strong grip and callused fingers. 

“Grizz,” was the response, and Grizz let go of Dylan’s hand, shoving it awkwardly in his jacket pocket. 

“Sorry again about, well, you know.” Dylan gestured to the car, or rather, limo, and Grizz just nodded. “Why don’t you let me drive you home?” Dylan asked after a brief pause. “It’s the least I can do.”

“No, I couldn’t ask you to-”

“I insist,” Dylan opened the car door, and Grizz thought about his options for a minute. He couldn’t take the train, because he didn’t have his bag or his money with him. He could call Clark to come pick him up, but Clark would probably still be at work for another hour. Letting out a soft sigh he nodded, climbing into the limo and watching as Dylan sat down next to him. The door shut with a soft thud, and they were off. 

Twenty minutes later, with a miraculous lack of traffic, they were outside of Grizz’s apartment complex. Opening the car door and stepping out, Grizz turned to thank Dylan, but instead Dylan stepped out with him and shut the door behind him. 

“It was amazing to meet you,” Dylan said, and Grizz gave an awkward smile, trying to keep his eyes from closing from the overwhelming tiredness that swept over him. 

“Yeah, you, too.” 

“You’re just so… beguiling,” Dylan continued, and Grizz raised an eyebrow, nodding slowly. 

“Thanks.” 

“Would you maybe wanna go out sometime?” Grizz turned at the question, surprise lighting up his features. 

“Would I- what?” 

“Wanna go out sometime,” Dylan repeated, giving a little laugh. “There’s no pressure, of course. You can say no, I’m just asking.”

Grizz watched him for a minute, really taking Dylan in. His golden-blonde hair was long, but not nearly as long as Grizz’s, and pushed back. It was neatly maintained, Grizz could tell, and Grizz could also tell this guy cared a lot about his appearance. He was fit, and was wearing a suit even though there was absolutely no reason to be. Without meaning to, Grizz found himself comparing Dylan to Sam. While Dylan cared about his appearance, Sam really didn’t. He wore what was comfortable and what he wanted to. And while Grizz could admit that both styles looked good, he was more inclined to Sam’s. What use is a suit if all you’re gonna do all day is worry about things being spilled on it? And if he was being honest, nothing could compare to Sam. 

But Sam wasn’t an option, not really. Not with the way that he stared at that swimsuit model all the time. Sam was a hopeless dream that Grizz couldn’t afford to entertain. No matter what Becca might say, the way that Sam acted with him was just Sam’s personality. He had a big heart, but that didn’t mean that he liked Grizz like Grizz liked him. He probably just liked Grizz as a friend, and Grizz was just gonna have to deal with that fact.

“Maybe,” Grizz gave a small smile to Dylan. 

“Okay. Well, if you decide that you want to…” Dylan looked around, and then grabbed a white rose from a nearby flower cart that Grizz swore wasn’t there that morning. “Here’s my number,” Dylan said as he wrote down each individual number on rose petals. Then, he picked them off, and Grizz blinked as Dylan dropped the petals into his hand.

“Um, how am I supposed to…” he started as Dylan headed back towards the car. “Hold on! How am I supposed to call you? There are like, a million different combinations of this!” 

“Yeah, but there’s only one you!” Dylan called back, stepping into the car. A moment later the sun roof slid back and Dylan appeared from the waist up, grinning back at Grizz.

“That doesn’t make sense!” Grizz shouted as the limo started to pull away.

“Are you feeling what I’m feeling?” Dylan shouted back, and Grizz’s nose scrunched, squinting at him.

“No!” Grizz's voice was filled with bewilderment. 

“Call me!” Dylan waved and then turned the corner and was gone from sight. Grizz stared at the flower petals in his hand and shoved them into his pocket, shaking his head and pushing his hair back. That was when he noticed that his street was completely different from how he had left it that morning. 

Flower shops were everywhere, and right beside his apartment complex where a smelly hot dog and burger place used to be now stood a tuxedo shop. The streets were cleaned, and there were no shouting neighbors or barking dogs. Grizz made a soft noise of surprise and then turned slowly, heading into his apartment building that looked a lot nicer than he remembered it. He turned and hit the elevator button, stepping in as he dialed Becca’s number. “Hey, Bec. Call me back when you get this, something weird is going on.” He stepped out of the elevator and pulled out his key as he walked. “It’s like I’m in some parallel universe where New York isn’t a shithole. It’s weird. Call me b-” Grizz’s key hit the wall, and he blinked as he stared at the plain wall where his apartment door used to be. “Back,” he finished lamely, hanging up and then looking down the long hallway. Slowly, he kept walking until he found his room number, and slid his key into the keyhole. He turned the key and opened the door, mouth parting in surprise.

“Holy hell. Uh, sorry! Walked into the wrong room, I’m leaving now!” Grizz called into the unfamiliar room, backing out of it and shutting the door again. He checked the number, sure it was the wrong one, but his room number stared right back at him, matching the number engraved on his key. 216. Slowly, he slid the key back in, and opened the door. 

In front of him was a gorgeous and luxurious apartment, nothing like the one he had lived in before. Huge windows spread out across an entire wall, showing the city and the people walking down below. The floor was dark brown hardwood, so dark it was almost black, with a white carpet in the middle and an off-white L-shaped couch. There was a huge TV across from the couch, and a dark wood coffee table in the center. The kitchen was stunning, dark cabinets underneath a white marble surface. The stove was huge and there were two silver ovens, as well as wine glasses hanging upside down from one of the fancy racks and a huge silver fridge. There was a piano off to the side, and a glass staircase that led up in a spiral. Water came down in the middle of it, a small waterfall into a little pool. 

“There’s no way this is mine,” he said aloud, running his fingers through his hair with wide eyes. “No fucking way.” He walked over to the giant silver fridge and opened it, finding it fully stocked with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries as well as pretty much any kind of food Grizz could want. 

“Luke?” He called into the apartment, but no response came. “Clark? Jason?” Still nothing. As he walked, his footsteps echoed on the hard floor, and carefully he slipped off his shoes and placed them carefully by the counter so he wouldn’t scuff the floor or get it dirty. “Is this an episode of Punk’d or something? Ashton?” He called skeptically, and then shook his head at himself. “That show ended years ago.” 

 _Okay, I am officially freaked out._ Grizz bit his lip, trying to figure out what to do next. After a minute, he finally decided on talking to the one person he thought might actually know what to do- Sam. He grabbed his shoes and pulled them on, grabbing his phone as well and then heading out the door. 

 

~

 

Grizz stepped out of the elevator and stared at the place he was supposed to call his work, watching as some dude rolled by on a hoverboard and three girls threw a big red ball back and forth lazily, not paying any attention at all to their work. There were bean bags everywhere, and a bunch of TV screens. As he walked in, Dewey walked past him, looking busy, but he turned to stop and give Grizz a small smile. 

“Hey, boss! The 3-D printer was a little slow, so I went ahead and called the IT guy. Prevent any problems, you know? Good luck on your presentation!” With that, Dewey was gone, and Grizz just watched him go with a surprised look on his face. He just kept walking, needing to get over to where Becca and Sam were. 

“Becca,” he hissed when he got there, grabbing his regular spinny chair and pulling it over. For once, Becca was actually focused on her work, but pulled out of her headphones when he spoke. 

“What can I do for you?” She asked almost immediately, like it was second nature to her, and Grizz would have laughed if he hadn’t been so freaked. 

“I don’t know what the hell is happening to me. I don’t- Sam!” He said as the red-head came into view, and Sam smiled at him, waving as he walked over. “I think I’m going crazy,” he spoke while signing, eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked, and Grizz almost got up and hugged him because he was still the same. He was the only person that seemed to be the same at the moment. 

“I’m. Going. Crazy. Everything is… weird. It’s like, good? But not.” He knew he wasn’t really making sense, but he couldn’t help it, grabbing onto Sam’s hands. “You’ve gotta help me.”

“You have to explain a little better before I can do that,” Sam squeezed his hands gently, and Grizz focused on the pressure as he breathed and tried to figure out exactly how to explain. It was hard to think straight when he was holding Sam’s hands like that, but he didn’t wanna move, feeling the warm spread from Sam’s fingers to his cold ones. 

His eyes squeezed shut as he gathered his thoughts. “Okay,” Grizz breathed. His eyes opened and met Sam’s blue ones. “Okay. I got mugged on the way back from getting coffee, and I hit my head, and I woke up and there was this really hot doctor and then my boss was like, flirting with me and it was weird and he was weird and I walked into my apartment except it wasn’t my apartment and it was really fancy and I don’t think Luke or Clark or Jason live there with me anymore and New York smells like lavender and I don’t know what’s happening,” Grizz said all in one breath. For a moment, he was worried that Sam wouldn’t understand, but the smaller boy nodded slowly, like he was trying to make sense of the words that had just come out of Grizz’s mouth. 

“So, you hit your head and… what? You’re suddenly in a parallel universe where everything is great? I don’t see a problem.” Sam looked amused, and also a little like he didn’t entirely believe Grizz. 

“No, it- well, I mean, it’s not a problem, per say, but it is? Everything’s different. And weird. I don’t- this isn’t, like- I- agh,” he ended, frustrated because he didn’t know the right words to express what he was feeling.

“Okay, just breathe for a second,” Sam murmured, and Grizz let himself take a moment. After a beat, he noticed that his fingers had intertwined with Sam’s, and distantly he wondered when that had happened. “Why don’t we take a walk?” Sam suggested, and Grizz nodded distractedly, disappointed when Sam pulled his hands away from Grizz’s and straightened. Grizz stood up, and together they walked towards the elevator again, Grizz trying to figure out exactly what he was supposed to say. As soon as they had gone down the elevator and out of the building, he started talking, walking fast and trying to think out loud and figure out what exactly was going on. They walked into the part across the street as he started, hands gesturing vaguely and wildly. 

“What the hell’s going on? New apartment, weird friends, no Luke, and two guys flirting with me in one day? I mean it’s so-”

“Hey,” Sam interrupted, tapping on Grizz’s shoulder, and Grizz turned, stopping mid-sentence. “I can’t hear you,” Sam pointed out, raising his eyebrows, and Grizz turned to face him. 

 _“Sorry.”_ Grizz sighed, pushing his hair back and pulling it up into a little ponytail at the top of his head. He didn’t notice as Sam watched his movements carefully, gaze seeming to drift off for a moment as he watched Grizz’s face with a sort of sad look in his gaze. As soon as Grizz was done the look vanished, replaced with an easy sort of smile. Grizz scanned the park, looking around at the pond and the couples that were in canoes together all around it. They were standing on a stone bridge, and a little river connecting to the pond flowed underneath. Giving a frustrated huff, he looked back at Sam and searched his gaze. “Don’t think I’m crazy.”

“Never,” Sam promised, giving him a comforting smile. 

“Okay,” Grizz breathed. “Everything’s different. I hit my head, and I woke up in a hospital, and everything’s different. New York smells like flowers, and everything is clean. And everyone around me is different, except you. That jerk from this morning asked me out on a date, and then wrote his number on rose petals, which is _really_ weird. And then my apartment is completely different and it looks like I’m living in someone else’s like, penthouse or something. And everyone is actually doing their jobs at work. It’s weird.” 

“Did you say yes?” Sam asked, and Grizz frowned at him. 

“What?”

“The date. Did you say yes?” He repeated, and Grizz shook his head distractedly. “Um, I said maybe. It doesn’t really matter, I can’t really call him. That’s not the point.”

“Right, sorry,” Sam cleared his throat, and Grizz studied his face, trying to figure out what had just happened. Sam looked like a kicked puppy, blue eyes distracted and sad. He turned away for just a moment, before he straightened and focused on Grizz again. Grizz’s eyebrows pulled together as he debated whether or not he should ask Sam about it, but after a brief pause, he let it go. “It sounds like a good thing, all of this stuff happening,” Sam tilted his head. “Right?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s weird. And I don’t know why it’s happening. I don’t understand.”

“Maybe you don’t have to,” Sam suggested. “Some things don’t have answers. When I went deaf, there were no answers. No reason why. Just bad luck. Maybe whatever this is, it's just the same thing. Maybe you’re getting a lucky break.” 

Grizz allowed himself to take that in for a minute, giving a small nod and breathing out. “Maybe. But even with all this good stuff, I just wish-”

“Is he choking?” Sam interrupted, squinting at something behind Grizz. Grizz turned, watching as a tall, dark-haired man coughed over and over again, body lurching forward. 

“Maybe he’s just being dramatic,” Grizz said to Sam, and Sam shook his head, blue eyes suddenly worried.

“I think he’s really choking,” Sam took off before Grizz could say anything else, darting towards the man and giving him the heimlich maneuver. The man gave one last cough and spit the piece of food out, gasping as he sucked in a breath of air. “Are you okay?” Sam asked immediately, and the man turned to face him. Grizz felt his stomach drop and his heart fill with dread.

The model from the billboard gave a stunning smile to Sam, and Grizz wanted to go over there and rewind time so that Sam wouldn’t be talking to the man Grizz always seemed to lose Sam to. The stupid model from the stupid billboard that Sam was always sneaking looks at. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he muttered to himself. 

“I’m great, thanks to you,” the man said- what was his name? Eric?- and shot another million-dollar smile at Sam. Grizz could practically see Sam going weak for it, a shy smile gracing the boy’s lips. Grizz wanted to put a wall between the two, but instead he was stuck watching helplessly.

“I’m Eric,” the model said, and Sam reached out, shaking his head.

“Sam,” Sam breathed. 

“Thank you for saving my life,” Eric murmured, and Grizz wanted to roll his eyes.

“Anytime,” Sam responded smoothly, and shit, was he flirting? Grizz jogged over, trying not to seem to irritated as he gave a polite smile to Eric and then subtly tried to tell Sam that he wanted to go by jerking his head a little in the direction of the bridge. Sam paid him no notice, and Grizz grit his teeth lightly. “This is my friend, Grizz,” Sam introduced, and Grizz gave Eric a tight smile as they shook hands.

“I’m Eric,” Eric smiled a real smile back at Grizz, and Grizz nodded.

“From the billboard.”

“Yeah! Yeah, I model sometimes,” Eric nodded eagerly, and Grizz refrained from rolling his eyes again.

“Uh, Sam, maybe we should-” Grizz started, motioning vaguely in the direction of the walkway. Sam gave him a quizzical look, not seeming to get the hint.

“I can’t believe I’m going to do this,” Eric exhaled loudly, and Grizz tried to stop the annoyance from showing on his face. “Sam, would… would a guy like you ever consider getting a drink or something with a guy like me?” 

Grizz’s lips parted with surprise, and his eyes went to Sam’s face, going back and forth between the two almost comically. 

“Um, let me think, _yes,”_ Sam answered, a grin on his face.

 _“_ Really?” Grizz and Eric spoke at the same time. Grizz’s voice was astonished, staring at Sam like he had just grown two heads. Eric’s smooth voice was excited, and the model offered Sam a bright smile.

“Well, there’s no time like the present, right? I know a cute little coffee shop right down the corner if you’re interested?” 

“Sure!” Sam nodded, shooting Grizz an excited look as Eric started to lead him away.

“Sam!” Grizz hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back for a moment. “You don’t know him! What if he’s, like, a murderer or something?”

“I’m sure he’s not,” Sam’s voice was soothing, but Grizz didn’t let it calm him. “Why not be open to something new, right?” 

“But we were-” Grizz started, but Sam had already turned away, unable to hear him. 

“I’ll meet you back at the office!” Sam called, and him and Eric walked side by side, talking to each other. They were too close, and Grizz ran his fingers through his hair, pulling out the ponytail and allowing the hair to fall into his face. He watched as Sam laughed and pushed Eric lightly, words unintelligible from the distance, and then they disappeared around the corner. 

Grizz groaned, turning the other way and walking by himself back towards the office. “Okay, think for a minute,” he said as he walked, controlling his breathing in order to keep himself calm. “I woke up with a super-hot doctor, everyone suddenly has accents, I have an awesome new apartment and everyone is actually nice and does their jobs.” Grizz felt himself trip and stumble, catching himself before he fell, like the universe was trying to tell him something. “I keep falling all the time, and I’m talking to myself out loud…” Realization dawned on him, and he stopped walking. “I think… I think I’m trapped in a f-” 

Two loud beeps made the rest of the word unable to be heard, and Grizz turned to see a large moving truck across the street backing up. “I’m in a fu-” he tried again, and the truck made two more loud beeping sounds. _No fucking way._ “My life has become a f-” two loud beeps resounded once again. “- romantic comedy!” He shouted, and the music seemed to come from nowhere, suddenly behind him. He spun around, and dozens of couples were suddenly dancing, the men dipping the women. The women’s leg slid up to hook behind the man’s leg, and all of them kissed at exactly the same time. The fountain behind them shot up, water forming the shape of a heart. “And it’s PG-13!”


	4. A Date

“This is not happening,” Grizz told himself over and over, heart beating fast as he jogged over to where he could last remember standing before this… mess happened. “This is _not_ happening.” He skidded to a halt near the lampost, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so and looking around. The street was close to him on one side, but almost nobody else was there besides him. There was a young, blonde girl, a man that looked to be in his 30s, and a cop that was on his phone, not really paying attention to anyone around him. He jogged over to the girl, footsteps pounding on the sidewalk lightly. “Hey!”

She turned around, pushing her hair behind her shoulder. “Can I help you?”

“Mug me.” 

“What?”

“Mug me,” he repeated, looking expectantly at her. “You know, like. Push me around a little. Rough me up, and then maybe hit me in the head and knock me out.” 

“You’re crazy,” she backed up, away from him.

“No, I’m not, just- I need you to like- I don’t know! Just grab my hair and pull me down and just mug me!” 

“Is there a problem here?” The officer came over, hand on his side and looking between the two of them. 

“Yes!” The blonde said at the same time that Grizz said “No!”

“What seems to be the problem, ma’am?” The officer asked, now ignoring Grizz completely. Grizz let out a breath of air and threw his hands up in the air as she talked to the officer, telling him that Grizz was harassing her and trying to mug her.

“No, I want her to mug _me,”_ he argued, fully aware that he sounded crazy. “Just… just forget it.” 

“Sir, I think you better come with me.” 

“I really don’t think that’s necessary, Officer…” Grizz squinted at the name tag, letting out a thinly veiled scoff. “Hansom.” 

“I think it is,” the officer disagreed, and went behind Grizz, putting his hands into the silver handcuffs. _Under different circumstances…_ Grizz shook his head to clear his thoughts, clearing his throat and trying not to think about hot men and handcuffs.

“I really don’t think those are-”

“Let’s go,” he said, pushing Grizz forward and toward the car. _This is ridiculous._

“What am I even getting arrested for, anyway? I don’t think talking to someone is an offense.”

“No, but harassment is.” 

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Grizz said as he hit his head getting into the back of the police car. 

Fifteen minutes later he stood in front of the phone connected to the wall, Hansom staring almost smugly back at him. “You have five minutes to make a phone call.” He seemed almost pleased to be bossing Grizz around, and Grizz almost rolled his eyes at the way the little power this guy had had gone to his head. 

“I don’t know anyone’s number. Can I just look it up on my pho-”

“Nope.”

“This is stupid. Just let me-”

“No.”

“Can I finish my sen-”

“No,” the officer said again, and Grizz felt the rare urge to punch someone wash over him for just a brief second. But he wasn’t a fighter, and he just took a deep breath and then exhaled, trying to think.

 “Okay. Okay. Who can I call?” _Stop thinking out loud. So stupid. Everything is so stupid in this idiotic romantic com- Oh._ “Oh!” He dug into his jacket pocket, feeling the mixed up rose petals in his pocket sitting there. He could remember the conversation clearly- _“There are like, a million different combinations of this!”-_ but he couldn’t think of anything else to do, and the way everything else that had been going on, he figured it was worth a shot. Slowly, Grizz pulled out the rose petals, and Officer Hansom looked at him skeptically but didn’t say a word. 

“I guess this’ll work if you believe in like, true love? Or something?” Grizz held up the rose petals in his hand, unsure of how he was supposed to go about this. He curled his hand into a loose fist with the petals inside and gave it a little kiss. The officer snorted and Grizz glared at him, feeling his cheeks heat up but trying to ignore it. “Okay. Here goes nothing.” He blew the rose petals out of his hand. 

Instantly, time seemed to slow, extra rose petals seeming to come from nowhere and floating down around him. Music also started to play, and Grizz couldn’t help but watch them with a slight smile on his face. As much as he claimed to hate romantic comedies, he could feel the kid in him starting to come out. The love for these kinds of scenes rushed through him so fast he almost stumbled back, and it was hard to fight the smile that continued to spread across his face. The rose petals fell with a gentle sort of ease, floating effortlessly down and landing lightly on the floor. The 10 marked, white petals landed one at a time on the tile floor, in order to spell out a phone number. “So stupid,” he muttered, but the smile hadn’t vanished completely, even as reality set in and the love for cheesy movie scenes faded. 

He dialed the number, and within a couple seconds the familiar Austrailian voice answered. “Hello?”

“Dylan?” Grizz asked tentatively. “It’s Grizz.”

“Grizz, finally! Are you asking about our date? Because I was thinking-”

“Yeah, not exactly.” 

 

~

 

  
“Thanks for coming to get me.” Grizz stepped out of the limo, shivering slightly and sighing as the sun started to set. He turned to look at Dylan as the man stepped out of the car as well, shutting the door behind him and leaning back against it. Dylan smiled at him, slipping off his jacket and putting it over Grizz’s shoulders. 

“It’s no problem, really,” Dylan answered as Grizz instinctively pulled the jacket tighter around himself. “In fact, I’m quite happy you called. Now we can talk about our date.”

“I don’t really…” Grizz started, and then paused, thinking about what Sam had said about being open to new experiences. He bit his lip, watching Dylan for a moment before allowing himself to nod. “Okay. Okay. _One_ date.” 

“Perfect!” Dylan said with a huge grin. “Tomorrow at 8?” Grizz just nodded, and Dylan took a step closer, hand coming up to touch Grizz’s cheek lightly before he was gone, back into the car and driving away. Grizz blew out a short puff of air and felt his hand drift up to touch his cheek where Dylan had, fingertips resting on the skin lightly. 

“Tomorrow at 8.” The words came out of Grizz’s mouth without him really meaning for them to, and he allowed himself one more moment of standing like that before he dropped his hand and turned, slipping into his apartment building and digging through his pockets to find his phone.

**Grizz: This is going to sound weird, but where do you all live?**

**Luke: What?**

**Jason: Why? What’s up?**

**Grizz: Just answer the question**

**Grizz: Please**

**Luke: Down the street from you**

**Jason: Just upstairs from you, literally like, right above you**

**Grizz: And Clark?**

**Jason: He’s at work but he lives near Luke. What’s going on?**

**Grizz: Nothing.**

 

Grizz chewed his thumbnail anxiously, looking at the texts for a minute and debating whether or not he should tell them. 

 

 **Grizz: I have a date tonight**  

 

Grizz stared at the message on his phone, and then after a minute hit send, finally stepping into his apartment and sitting down at the counter. Vaguely he registered once again just how weird it was to suddenly have this nice apartment all by himself. 

 

**Luke: WHAT?? With who?**

**Jason: Dude**

**Jason: Why didn’t you start with that?**

**Clark: YES! Orion’s Bar at 10 DRINKS ON ME!!**

**Luke: That statement was shocking enough to make Clark break the no phones policy**

**Grizz: You guys don’t have to act like I never get some**

**Jason: But you don’t**

**Jason: Like ever**

**Grizz: Thank you, Jason. You are an endless supply of support.**

**Jason: Any time**

**Luke: Did you tell Sam yet?**

**Grizz: No. Why would I tell him first?**

 

There was a brief moment of silence in the group chat, and Grizz frowned at his phone when nobody responded to his question right away.

 

**Clark: Orion’s Bar at 10, don’t forget!**

**Jason: On it**

**Luke: Over and out**

**Jason: “Over and out” you sound like you’re in middle school**

**Clark: If you guys don’t stop blowing up my phone I stg**

**Jason: Bye losers**

 

Grizz smiled and turned off his phone, checking to see how much time he had before he had to be there. He had about an hour, so he shrugged off Dylan’s jacket and grabbed his brown leather one, heading outside and towards the subway. 

Forty minutes and a wrong train later, he stood in front of Sam and Becca’s apartment door, ringing the doorbell. As he did so, he thought about the first time that he had been over here, curious about how everything worked and questioning Sam on just about everything he could.

_“How exactly does all of this work? Like, what if someone rings the doorbell?” His voice was shy, not wanting to be rude, but he couldn’t help the curiosity. It was like word vomit, words spilling out of his mouth before he could stop them. His hands tried to keep up with his mouth, but he didn’t know enough words in ASL yet and the best that he could do was sign a few of them here or there._

_“Slow down a little,” Sam spoke with an amused smile. “If someone rings the doorbell, or like, the fire alarm goes off or something, I have it rigged so that flashing lights will go off. They sell special stuff for things like that.”_

_“Wow,” Grizz breathed, suddenly nervous as it hit him that he was standing inside of Sam’s apartment. Becca wasn’t there, and it was just the two of them. Sam moved around the apartment expertly, grabbing a huge bowl so that they could put the popcorn in it. “The oven, microwave and special timer that I have all also do that,” Sam continued, giving him a smile. “I like cooking a lot, actually. And usually Becca’s here to help out, anyway, so there’s usually not a problem.”_

_Grizz paused for a moment, glancing towards the couch where various blankets were thrown. “What if we didn’t watch a movie, then?” Grizz asked, and then realized that he wasn’t facing Sam. He turned and tapped the boy’s shoulder, and when Sam turned around, he repeated the question. “What if we didn’t watch a movie? Would you maybe wanna cook something instead? Like cookies or something? I don’t know,” Grizz ended, suddenly nervous. But Sam smiled brightly at him, a warmth in his gaze Grizz had rarely seen on anyone else before. With Sam, though, he found that he got that look a lot._

_“Sure. We can make three ingredient peanut butter cookies. They’re easy and fast. Can you grab the peanut butter and sugar from the pantry?” Sam didn’t wait for an answer, turning and grabbing the eggs out of the fridge. Grizz jogged into the pantry, digging around until he found the two ingredients and setting them on the counter by Sam._

_“Okay. We need two eggs…” Sam offered one to Grizz, and Grizz smiled to himself, cracking it smoothly and opening it. Sam did the same, and then scooped out the correct portions of peanut butter and sugar as well. “And mix.” He offered the spoon to Grizz and stepped aside so that Grizz could take his place. The taller boy smiled and stepped forward, starting to stir the ingredients together. After a moment, Sam spoke up again, and Grizz was hyper aware of just how close the other boy was._

_“You want it to be really light,” Sam murmured. “Kind of fluffy, if that makes sense. Like this.” Sam wrapped his hand around Grizz’s gently, guiding Grizz’s hand as he mixed the three ingredients together. Grizz suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe as the boy got closer in proximity, closer than Grizz had ever been to him before._

“Grizz?” Sam asked when he opened the door, and Grizz snapped back to reality. 

“Sam! I uh, I just… I wanted to, um,” Grizz stumbled over his words, and he realized that he didn’t really know why he was here. It was just where he had wanted to be. “I just wanted to talk to you, I guess,” Grizz said sheepishly. “I was actually-”

“Sam?” Called a voice from inside, and Grizz looked up in surprise to see a shirtless Eric inside of the apartment. Both eyebrows shot up, a surprised look immediately taking over his face, and Sam squinted at Grizz in confusion, trying to figure out what was wrong. _He can’t hear you,_ he wanted to say to Eric, but instead, he just pointed behind Sam. 

“Your boyfriend is calling you,” Grizz said slowly, the words feeling strange and uncomfortable in his mouth. Sam’s face flushed a deep red, and Grizz shut his eyes for just a moment, trying not to think about what they would have been doing before Grizz had come that required Eric to be shirtless. 

“Just one minute,” Sam called to Eric, and then Sam’s hands were guiding him outside, shutting the apartment door behind the two of them so they were standing alone in the hallway. “I can talk for a minute if you want,” Sam said, and Grizz swallowed, trying to ignore the pit that now seemed to be at the bottom of his stomach. 

“Ah, no, that’s okay. I don’t want…” Grizz trailed off, and instead of turning and going back inside, Sam just stood there, letting him find his words. The shorter boy shoved his hands in his pockets, watching Grizz intently as he struggled. But there was nothing that Grizz could say without coming off as stupid, because all he wanted to ask was, _What is he doing here?_ So instead, he said the absolute last thing that he wanted to.

“I have a date,” he blurted. Sam’s head snapped up to meet his eyes, mouth parting in surprise.

“You- what?” 

 _Shit._ “I have a date,” Grizz repeated quietly, and Sam’s eyes searched his, mulling over his thoughts. The red-head chewed on his bottom lip, thinking, and Grizz watched him like his life depended on it, anxiety suddenly coursing through his veins. “There’s this guy. He’s, um, Austrailian. His name is Dylan, and he almost ran over me, and I was kind of mad at him but also he was really cute so I wasn’t really all that mad. And then he offered to drive me home and I let him and then today he asked me on a date and you told me to be open to new experiences and so I said yes.” Grizz couldn’t stop talking, words spilling out of his mouth faster than he knew that Sam would be able to catch them but not able to slow them down. 

“Slow down,” Sam requested, but he looked like he had managed to get all of the words anyway. Sam ran his fingers through his hair, and suddenly Sam looked tired, the slight smile dropping from his face. “When I said- I meant-” Sam didn’t finish his sentence, closing his eyes. “Fuck,” the boy whispered, and Grizz wasn’t entirely sure that he was supposed to hear that. More importantly, he didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. “Grizz, I…” Sam looked hopelessly up at Grizz, and Grizz looked back down at him in confusion, studying him like he was a complicated puzzle. The moment was broken by the chiming of Grizz’s phone, over and over again. Grizz held up a finger to ask Sam to give him a second and pulled it out, looking over the messages with a sigh.

 

**Luke: Grizz. Where are you?**

**Jason: Dude are you okay?**

**Clark: I said 10!! If you don’t get here within 30 minutes you’re buying your own drinks**

**Jason: Hurry UP dude how long are you taking to get ready?**

**Jason: Just get down here NOW!!**

 

 _“I have to go,”_ Grizz signed silently, not a word spoken, and Sam nodded slowly, looking lost in his thoughts. _Maybe it’s for the best,_ Grizz thought to himself, as he offered Sam a smile, turned away, and walked down the long hallway and back the way he had come. _Maybe  we weren’t meant to be together. Life isn’t like those stupid movies, you know this._

Orion’s Bar was about a five minute walk away from where Sam lived, and he spotted the other three as soon as he arrived, making his way over with a smile and a wave. 

“Finally!” Jason rolled his eyes, and Clark shoved a beer into Grizz’s hands. 

“Tell us about this date you have,” Clark kicked his feet up on the table and looked at Grizz expectantly. Grizz smiled and shook his head, taking a long drink of beer. 

“You guys don’t wanna hear about that.”

“Yesss, we do. If we get to talk about hot chicks, you get to talk about hot dudes. As long as it’s not someone I know because I don’t think I could hear you talk about someone’s…” the word got lost in a sudden cheer of the crowd, and Grizz looked over at the TV where a touchdown had just been scored. _PG-13._ “...and then have to look at them the next day and act like nothing happened.” Jason nodded in agreement with Clark’s words, and Grizz gave an amused snort.

“Okay. Well, he’s really hot, and actually kind of sweet-” 

Jason made a snoring sound, eyes closed, and then he opened one to peek at Grizz. Grizz gave him a sour look, but the corners of his mouth twitched up in a smile. 

“Get to the good stuff,” Jason complained, wiggling his eyebrows at Grizz. 

“I think you and I have two very different definitions of that. We haven’t slept together, and you need to get your head out of the gutter.” 

“Okay, you haven’t slept together _yet_ , but what about tomorrow? After your date?” 

“We are not talking about this.”

“Grizz is gonna get some!” Clark whooped, and then he and Jason both started shouting it over and over. “Grizz is gonna get some, Grizz is gonna get some!” Grizz shot a hopeless look at Luke, and Luke just shrugged back at him, taking a long drink of his beer. 

“You two are insufferable,” Grizz threw a nacho from the basket at Clark, and Clark threw one back at him. Before the two could continue on their spree Luke snatched the basket from the middle of the table, shaking his head at the two of them. 

“You two are children.” 

“He started it!” Clark pointed at Grizz, and Grizz couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Okay, guys, but seriously. You know what I’m in the mood for?” Jason leaned in really close, and the three others leaned in real close too, watching him with curious eyes. “Getting completely f..." the crowd cheered again, "...up!” Jason yelled, and Grizz nearly fell off his chair, startled. 

“Then get completely f..." another cheer, "...up we will.”


	5. The One Where Sam is Sad

A couple of hours later it was just Grizz and Luke left, the basket of nachos gone and dozens of empty shot glasses and beer bottles laying around. Grizz had made Clark and Jason go home (and had called ubers for them because they were wasted) because they had to get up early the next day, and Luke had offered to stay with him and drive him home. Luke watched as Grizz tipped back another shot almost lazily, wincing just slightly and setting it down on the counter.

“Okay, I think we should probably go,” Luke gathered up all of the glasses and pushed them neatly to the corner of the table.

“No,” Grizz disagreed, voice slurred just a little and a big, dopey smile on his face. “No. No, we should… we should stay. Stay,” he repeated the word slowly, and gave a soft little laugh, brushing his hair sloppily out of his face. 

“Grizz, we should-”

“I love you,” Grizz interrupted, clapping a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I love you so much, you know that? Like… so much.” 

“Thanks, bud,” Luke gave a laugh as Grizz kept mumbling, “So much…” to himself. “But seriously, we should go. You’re way too drunk and you have work tomorrow.” 

“No,” Grizz said again, burying his head in hands and whining. “No. No work, no home, no… just drinks. Another round!” He said enthusiastically, throwing his hand up in the air, and Luke shook his head at the bartender so he knew to ignore Grizz. Grizz mumbled to himself as he picked at the bar table, fingernails digging into the soft wood, and Luke watching him for a moment without speaking. 

“What are you avoiding?”

“What?” Grizz looked up at him, a content look in his eyes. Luke looked like he hated to ruin the mood, but he did so anyway, continuing to talk. 

“What are you avoiding?” When Grizz didn’t respond, Luke licked his lips and sat up, trying to gage whether or not Grizz was drunk enough for him to actually get an answer. Finally, he pushed on, watching Grizz carefully. “You never drink this much, and you care about your work enough that you never wanna miss it. So what are you avoiding?” 

“I’m not avoiding anything,” Grizz mumbled, looking away from Luke and frowning down at the counter. He was too drunk for this conversation, and he knew that Luke knew it too. 

“Bullshit.”

“I’m not-”

“You’re lying,” Luke raised his eyebrows, moving his head so that he was in Grizz’s line of sight.

“I’m. Not-”

“Bullshit,” Luke said again, and Grizz gave a frustrated huff, looking up at the ceiling for a minute before steadying himself against the counter and looking back at Luke. There was a tense silence between them for a moment before Grizz looked back at the counter, pondering his words. He held his hand up and put up two fingers, and the bartender slid them two beers. Grizz trailed his fingers around the glass’s top, chewing on his bottom lip as Luke took a slow drink of his beer. Luke let him think, not fighting him on the beer because he knew that if there was any way Grizz was gonna talk to him, it was gonna be on his own terms. 

“I always thought it would be me and him,” Grizz said after a moment. Luke didn’t say a word, just listening patiently. “He always looked at me, like… like…” Grizz stared at the beer, fingers pausing in their movements. “I just always thought, somehow, it would be us, I guess.”

“Sam?” Luke asked tentatively, and Grizz nodded, biting his lip hard. 

“And now he’s with Prince freaking Charming, and I’m… well, not him.” Grizz swallowed, barely above a whisper. “How am I supposed to compare to that?”

“There’s still time,” Luke’s voice was gentle, reaching out and stopping the tapping of Grizz’s fingers on the wood. “You guys have history, you know? You’ve known him for longer than this mystery dude, right?” Grizz confirmed Luke’s question with a nod, and Luke nodded back at him. “See? If you really wanna be with him, this is your chance.”

“No,” Grizz shook his head miserably, hair falling into his face. “No, it’s too late, I can’t-”

“It’s not too late,” Luke disagreed, taking the rest of the beer away from Grizz and causing the boy to look over at him. “It’s not too late. They’re not, like, getting married. Okay?”

“I should just move on,” Grizz muttered, shaking his head. 

Luke watched him for another moment before he sighed, getting up from where he was sitting. “Why don’t we talk about this tomorrow, okay? When you’re sober. Because maybe then, when I talk some sense into you, you’ll actually remember it. Or maybe you’ll go on that date tomorrow and forget all about Sam.” Grizz shook his head and opened his mouth, and Luke just shushed him gently and lead him up and out of the door, into the night.

 

~

 

Grizz woke up with a pounding headache. As he looked around the large room and tried to figure out what exactly what woken him up, he noticed distantly that he was still wearing the same clothes as last night, and he smelled like a bar had thrown up on him. A second later he could hear banging on his front door, and he let out a grunt as he pulled himself out of bed. The banging came again, causing Grizz to grimace as the sound made his head swim. “I’m coming!” 

Opening the door, he squinted sleepily at a peppy Becca who held two coffees in her hands. “What’re you doing here?” Grizz asked tiredly, combing his fingers through his hair but not really attempting to make himself look any more presentable than he already was. 

“We need to talk.” She spoke curtly, handing him a coffee and stepping past him, into the apartment. 

“Come in,” he rolled his eyes and turned, shutting the door behind him and taking a drink of his coffee. “What’s up?” 

“Oh, no, not like this,” she said, eyes moving up and down his body distastefully. “You need a shower, and to get dressed in something actually nice. Then I’ll yell at you.”

“Yell at me? I thought we were going to talk.” 

“I’m going to yell, and then you’re going to talk. Go shower.” Becca pushed Grizz toward the bedroom, which (as Grizz had figured out only when he opened his closet that wasn’t really a closet, apparently) was attached to a bathroom three times bigger than the one he and the boys had all shared. Becca turned around and opened another door, one Grizz hadn’t explored yet. A minute later, she emerged with a floral button up and black dress pants to tuck it into, along with a black belt. 

“How do you know this place better than I do?” He asked incredulously, taking the clothes from her. 

“Because I’m over here all the time. Hurry up and shower or we’re gonna be late,” she frowned at her watch and then looked at him expectantly, and he rolled his eyes. 

“Okay, fine. Shoo,” he pushed her out of the room and then disappeared into the bathroom. 

15 minutes later he stood in front of her with wet hair, in the outfit that she picked out and taking a long drink of his coffee. “Okay. So what are you going to yell at me about?”

“Let’s walk to work, and I’ll talk on the way.” She was out the door before he could respond, and he gave an exasperated sigh as he slid on his shoes and followed her outside. Her pace was brisk, like she was on a tight schedule, and it was so unlike the Becca he knew that if he hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought a Freaky Friday situation was going on. Even with his long legs, he could barely keep up with her without doing a soft of awkward limbo between walking and jogging. “What did you do to Sam?” 

“Huh?” Grizz asked, barely able to hear her because she wouldn’t look at him. 

“What. Did you do. To Sam?” She repeated, finally glancing over her shoulder at him. 

“I didn’t do anything to Sam,” Grizz frowned, slowing in his steps. Becca followed his lead, slowing down as well until they finally walked side by side with ease. 

“He told me that you stopped by last night, and he’s been mopey all morning.”

“And Eric can’t cheer him up?” Grizz knew the comment wasn’t fair, and Becca’s icy stare would have clued him in even if he didn’t. 

“Did you say something to him about Eric?” Becca let out an exasperated groan, turning to face him with a frustrated expression on her face. “You can’t just let him be happy?” 

 _“What?”_ Grizz said, bewildered. “Of course I… Of course I want him to be happy, I don’t know what-” 

“You keep-” She interrupted, only to drop the rest of the sentence immediately and sigh. She repeated the question, lips pursed. “Did you say something about Eric?”

“No, o-of course not.” Her pretty brown eyes were focused intently on him, brown hair pulled up and out of her face in a high ponytail. The look made her seem more mature and serious, and the way she was standing made people part around her like Moses. 

“Then what did you guys talk about?” 

“I mean, nothing, really. I went over there for like, a minute, but he was busy.” His mouth went dry, thinking about the night before (or of what he could remember- about an hour after he got to the bar, everything goes black) and how Eric had been standing there, waiting for Sam. Shirtless. A shirtless model waiting for Sam. “I told him I had a date, and then that I had to go. That’s it. I don’t even know why I went over there.” 

Becca paused for a minute, eyes drifting away from him as she thought, and then she muttered something under her breath and started walking again all at once. “Okay. Thanks.” 

“That’s it?” Grizz called after her, pausing for a second before he jogged to catch up with her again. “Did you figure out what it was?” 

“Yes.”

“And?”

“It’s not- it’s not important. Right now.”

“Of course it is,” Grizz protested, confused as to what made Becca switch tracks like that.

“No, it’s- look, I’ll talk to him about it, okay? I’ll take care of it.” She increased her step, meaning the conversation was over. Grizz hesitated but let it go, figuring that she wasn’t going to get anything out of her unless she wanted him to. 

“Okay,” he finally said. Becca nodded and they walked pretty much in silence the rest of the way to work, Grizz trying to figure out what the hell could possibly be wrong. It only took them a couple more minutes to get there, and Becca led the way, ponytail swishing behind her as she walked with purpose. 

Grizz couldn’t wrap his mind around how different the office was, and how everyone treated him like they were actually supposed to, which meant no more dirty work and doing everyone’s job for them. Becca immediately parted from him, making her way over to Sam as soon as she stepped foot out of the elevator. Debating whether or not to follow, he finally decided that if they wanted him in the conversation Becca would have told him what was wrong in the first place and letting out a soft, frustrated sigh. Grizz turned away from the two of them, sitting down at his desk and spinning around to watch the two of them talk. No words were being exchanged, only rapid sign language that even almost Grizz didn’t completely understand. He didn’t let himself really focus on the words, only catching a few here and there. _Seriously?_ And _Keep doing this,_ were two of them, and the conversation continued to increase in speed as it went. They both seemed upset, Sam’s blue eyes stormy and defensive while Becca seemed angry and exasperated. 

He caught his name once or twice in the conversation, along with Eric’s, and at some point Becca threw her hands up in the air, catching Grizz’s attention completely. _“He can’t keep doing this,”_ she signed to Sam, and Grizz tilted his head, not able to help himself as he watched. 

 _“He doesn’t know,”_ Sam signed back, lips pursed and eyebrows drawn together. _“He doesn’t realize.”_ Becca scoffed and turned away from Sam, shaking her head. _I’d like the old Becca back, please,_ he thought to himself, thinking about the Becca that was obsessed with rom-coms, cheerful and motivational. Grizz looked away, feeling like he was intruding on a sensitive moment and going back to his work. Moments later, a shadow fell over him, blocking the light that had been shining on him and causing him to look up. Sam stood there, offering him a smile and a wave, and Grizz smiled back up at him and pulled a chair over for him to sit in. 

 _“Thanks,”_ Sam signed, sitting down across from him and spinning around in the chair. Grizz gave a little laugh, before he reached out with an arm and steadied Sam so he could see his mouth and his hands.

 _“How are you feeling?”_ Grizz asked him, and Sam tilted his head.

_“Fine. Why?”_

_“Becca said you were sad this morning. Everything okay?”_ At Sam’s nod, Grizz paused, arguing with himself for a minute before tentatively asking, “ _What about you and Eric? Doing okay?”_

Surprised, Sam nodded, raising an eyebrow at him. _“Why?”_

 _“I may have, ah, saw a little of your conversation over there,”_ Grizz signed sheepishly, nodding towards where Sam and Becca had been standing minutes ago. Immediately, Sam tensed just a little, eyes searching Grizz’s face with a sudden intensity. 

_“How much?”_

_“What?”_ Grizz responded confusedly, distracted enough that he didn’t follow the conversation enough to entirely understand the question. 

_“How much did you see?”_

_“Pretty much nothing,”_ Grizz reassured him, puzzled as to why he seemed so tense. _“I just heard Becca say ‘He can’t keep doing this’ and I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”_  

 _“Everything’s good,”_ Sam gave him a smile, which faltered for a sec as he seemed to think about something. _“Yeah, we’re together now. Like, officially.”_ Sam gave a little giggle, and Grizz knew that he was thinking the same thing- it sounded like something they would be saying in high school. Sam was watching his expression carefully, though, like Grizz was going to explode or something, and Grizz just smiled at him. 

 _“That’s great! I’m happy for you guys.”_ He ignored the pang in his chest and reminded himself that later he had a date, and he didn’t really have a right to be upset. Sam didn’t like him in that way, and he had known this for a while now. 

 _“Thanks,”_ Sam signed, and then for the first time in what felt like forever, there was an awkward silence between the two of them. Grizz played with a pen quietly, trying to figure out how to break the silence, but Sam just stood up and tapped him to get his attention. _“I’m gonna get back to work,”_ Sam signed, and Grizz gave a nod, watching as Sam turned and headed back to his desk. Grizz grabbed a stress ball off his desk and threw it in the air, letting out a fast breath. 

“I’m so screwed.”

 

~

 

Grizz had been staring at the mirror in front of him for the past twenty minutes, and he still wasn’t sure if what he was wearing was appropriate or not for the date. He didn’t know how fancy it was gonna be, or what he was supposed to wear, so he had gone with a green button up shirt and a wacky looking tie that he quite liked. It was goofy, but it was undeniably him, and he absolutely loved the outfit. Nervously he adjusted his bow tie and checked his watch, waiting for it to turn 8 so he could walk outside and wait without seeming too desperate. His phone was blowing up with texts in the groupchat, but Grizz left it where it was on his bed because he knew that if he checked his phone it would make him more nervous. The boys were trying to hype him up for his date, but Grizz knew the encouraging words would just make him want to stay at home and curl up with a good book like he was so used to doing. 

When it was about two minutes until 8 he grabbed his phone and turned off the notifications, making his way downstairs. Already waiting for him was a limo, a personal driver opening the door for him and gesturing for him to get inside. Grizz followed the direction, giving a timid smile to the driver as he ducked inside. The door was shut quietly after he got in, and Grizz looked around, heavily impressed at everything inside. There was a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice just sitting on a little table, the bucket of ice inside of the table in a hole so that they didn’t fly out when the car moved. There was also a TV, and a dozen different movies to choose from. Grizz wolf-whistled, raising his eyebrows and nodding. _I could get used to this._

The drive was a short one, and while the limo was nice, Grizz was incredibly thankful that it was over quickly. He didn’t think he could take being this anxious for much longer. It had been a long time since he had been on a date, and only the second one that he had been on with a boy (he had been on one in college, and it didn’t really end well, but that’s a story for another time). He was pretty sure he was somehow gonna fuck it up, but having been transported into this magically-perfect world, he was thinking that maybe the trick to getting out of here was making someone fall in love with him. That, and he wanted to give himself that chance. He wanted to give himself a chance to fall in love with someone, instead of hopelessly pining for over a year. 

Shaking his head to get out of his thoughts, he pushed his fingers back through his hair in an attempt to smooth it down a little. “You got this,” he muttered to himself, and then nodded as reassurance. He stepped outside of the limo, and immediately his mouth dropped open, shock racing across his features. 

A huge yacht sat out in front of him on the water, lights glittering in the darkness. Fairy lights were strung up over the deck, and a table was set out with flowers in the middle and fancy plates. Everything looked beautiful, and, obviously, like something straight out of a romance movie. Grizz was knocked breathless, and when Dylan spoke it took him a minute for it to register. The Austrailian looked stunning, in a black and white tux, and he stretched out a hand to Grizz as the tall boy took a step forward.

“Shall we?”


	6. Bentley's Ice Cream

Yeah, Grizz was pretty sure it couldn’t get much better than this. The water was nice and calm, and the stars had come out. Not to mention the fact that Dylan was sitting right across from him, a glass of champagne in his hand and a charming smile on his face. On the drive over, Grizz had figured out what he was pretty sure he needed to do to get out of here- get someone to fall in love with him. How hard could in be in this stupid, perfect world, right?  

“So, tell me about yourself,” Dylan set down his glass, studying Grizz’s face. Grizz shrugged, not really sure what to say. 

“Well, I grew up in this little town called West Ham. Nothing like New York, obviously. It was so… perfect there. We used to joke around about how nothing ugly could belong in West Ham- graffiti didn’t exist, and neither did litter or crime, pretty much. Nothing.” Grizz hummed softly to himself as he thought. “We grew up in a little house, and we weren’t allowed dogs or anything because my mom was allergic. I grew a garden in the backyard, and I actually still have one.” He paused, frowning for a brief moment. _Or I used to, I guess. I don’t think I have one in my new apartment. What kind of paradise is this supposed to be?_ “Me and my best friends moved here right after college, and my highschool crush came here as well. It’s actually kind of funny, because we never talked to each other, and now…” Grizz trailed off as he realized he didn’t want to talk about Sam with Dylan. Not yet, at least. “So, yeah. That’s me, I guess. What about you?” 

“Oh, it’s nothing interesting, I promise you,” Dylan laughed, taking a drink of his champagne. “I grew up in a charming little house in the Bahamas. My father wasn’t around much, because he had lots of work to do and whatever other excuse he used. During the summer we would go to our house on the island of Maui, Hawaii. It’s quaint, but it works for a kid bored out of his mind.” He suspected that ‘charming’ and ‘quaint’ didn’t mean to Dylan what they meant to him, but he kept his mouth shut, listening as the other man went on. “When I was 16 my dad got me my first boat, and when I was 18 he graciously gifted me a loft down in Los Angeles. So I guess you could say I’ve traveled quite extensively. But I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to grow up in a small town.”

“Trust me, no, you don’t,” Grizz laughed and shook his head, thinking about West Ham and the different experiences that they had there. Fugitives was played quite a bit, one of the only things to do during the summer if they weren’t traveling (and Grizz usually wasn’t.) They had bonfires, too, which were just a bunch of teenagers gathering to get drunk and high. And of course, football, which the little town of West Ham seemed to revolve around. “There’s nothing to do, you know? It’s the same people for 18 years, doing the same thing over and over again. It’s not as cute-sy as TV makes it look.” 

“I’ll take your word for it,” Dylan nodded, leaning back. “So I’m guessing you were excited to get out of there, then? Come to the city?”

“Not really,” Grizz shook his head slowly. “I mean, yeah, I was excited to get out of West Ham. But I didn’t really wanna move to the city. My best friends were the ones that convinced me. I’m happy that I did it, but I also want to move to the outskirts of a city and grow a garden and just live in peace. It’s not very quiet here.”

“Makes sense,” the blonde said with another nod. “Personally, I prefer the city because I like the noise, but to each their own.” There was a brief lull in the conversation, and Grizz just watched Dylan because he seemed to be pondering something, blue eyes thoughtful and looking off to the side. Then, Dylan stood up, setting down his glass again. “I wanna show you something.”

“Oh. Right now?” Grizz stood up too, leaving the rest of his food as he followed Dylan. Dylan led him off the yacht, and Grizz followed slower than he knew he should have, not really eager to leave the yacht just yet. Who knew when he would get on another one? Possibly never. Dylan offered his hand to Grizz for the last big step and Grizz took it, finally stepping off the floating boat and onto the wooden dock. The dark water moved beneath them, lights reflecting off of it in an unbelievably beautiful way. Dylan didn’t let go of his hand as they walked, using it to tug him along gently. Grizz kind of liked the feeling of his hand in Dylan’s as they walked, the streets mostly empty and the scent of lavender in the air. _Seriously, what is it with lavender?_

The two of them walked for about fifteen minutes, and most of it was in silence, just listening to the sounds of the city and their footsteps. Eventually they came upon a little corner shop, big neon letters announcing what it had to offer. **BENTLEY’S SODAS,** it read, and beneath it, a list of food. **BURGERS, FRIES, HOT DOGS AND ICE CREAM!** Unlike the shops he was so used to seeing in New York, the windows were plastered with different papers and stickers, and the street all around was clean. Inside it looked like a 90s retro diner theme, and red neon lights lit the room in a gentle glow. There were a couple of booths set up along the side of the wall, and in the back there was a counter with a soda machine behind it and ice cream buckets spread out on display to the side of it. On the glass door (glass door? If he was back home, this would be broken into faster than you can say ‘ice cream’) read the hours. Dylan ran his finger down the days until it got to Friday, giving a disappointed sigh. _8 A.M. to 9 P.M._ it read, and Grizz checked his watch. _9:36 P.M._

“I’m sorry, I thought it would be open,” Dylan said apologetically, squeezing Grizz’s hand lightly. “We walked all this way for nothing.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I think this is the most peaceful I’ve ever seen New York.” 

“Yeah,” Dylan responded distractedly, and then bit his lip, thinking. Finally, Dylan shook his head. “Okay, we didn’t walk all this way for nothing. Come on.” Dylan let go of Grizz’s hand and fished out a paperclip from his pocket, unfolding it and jiggling it in the lock. 

“Wait, I don’t think we should-” as Grizz spoke, the lock clicked, and Dylan pushed the door open gently. Grimacing, Grizz tensed, waiting for an alarm of some sort to go off. When nothing happened, Dylan gave him a mischievous grin and grabbed his hand, pulling him inside of Bentley’s. “I’m in a rom-com. Nothing bad can happen in a rom-com, right?” Grizz muttered to himself, following Dylan and walking over to the counter. 

“What flavor do you want?” Dylan asked as he hopped the counter, sliding over the top and picking up two waffle cones. Grizz raised his eyebrows at the over-the-top move, opening the little swinging door and simply stepping behind the counter. 

“I don’t really think we should steal,” Grizz said slowly, and Dylan laughed.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll leave a hundred in the tip jar. What flavor?”

“Rocky road,” Grizz requested, and hopped up onto the counter, legs swinging just slightly as Dylan handed him the ice cream. Then, Dylan got some chocolate for himself, hopping up beside Grizz. 

“What’s your favorite flavor?” Dylan asked as they ate their ice cream, sitting closer than needed. Grizz thought about it for a second, allowing himself to feel the coldness of the ice cream seeping through the waffle cone. 

“I dunno. I mean, mint chocolate chip is pretty good. I don’t really think I have a favorite. What about you?” 

“You’re gonna laugh at me.”

“No, I won’t.” Grizz nudged him, giving a little laugh. “How bad can it be? Come on.”

“Butter pecan.” 

“No!” Grizz stared at him, mouth open like Dylan had just committed a crime (you know, besides breaking and entering.) “That’s like, the worst flavor!” 

“I told you!” Dylan started laughing, and Grizz joined in, too. “All of my friends used to make fun of me for it. I wouldn’t eat it anywhere except home because no one else liked it.” That caused Grizz to go into another fit of laughter, eyes watering slightly. 

“I can just imagine little you going and hiding in your house, eating butter pecan ice cream like a little hermit.” 

“That’s exactly what I did!” Dylan laughed again, and Grizz just watched for a minute. The blonde threw his head back when he laughed, and the sound was whole and rich, like melting chocolate. 

“I can’t believe that. What’s your second favorite?”

“It’s even worse,” Dylan snorted, the smile huge on his face. “It’s raisin.”

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Grizz gasped dramatically. “I can’t even look at you.” As if to prove his point, he swiveled his head in the other direction so that he was no longer looking at Dylan. 

“I know, I know! Way to make a guy feel self-conscious.” 

“Get some better taste buds!” Grizz exclaimed. “You’re like, perfect, and then you go and tell me you like butter pecan and raisin. _Raisin._ Seriously.” 

“You think I’m perfect?” Dylan asked, and when Grizz swung his head around to look at the blonde, he wiggled his eyebrows and crossed his eyes. 

“No,” Grizz hit his arm lightly, feeling his cheeks heat up again. “Obviously not, because you like butter pecan. I don’t think we can ever move past this.” 

“I can’t be with someone who doesn’t accept me for who I am,” Dylan said just as dramatically, placing his hand over his heart and giving a heartbroken sigh. Grizz crumpled up a napkin and threw it at him, laughing. 

“Okay, okay. I think I’ll be able to get past your extremely bad taste in ice cream flavors. Eventually.” 

“Thank you. I will be forever in your debt,” Dylan rolled his eyes, a goofy look on his face that made Grizz’s heart feel warm. They finished what was left of their ice cream with scattered conversation after that, teasing each other for their likes and dislikes, but not in the way that they would be uncomfortable or hurt. As it turned out, Dylan used to be a huge nerd- Dungeons & Dragons, video games, the whole stereotypical bundle. Grizz told Dylan about how he had taken ballet classes as a child, and they talked together for what felt like hours in the little ice cream shop, the room only lit by red and blue neon signs.

Outside, the lighting changed from street lamps to red and blue flashing lights, and Grizz drew himself up in surprise, conversation forgotten. “Oh, shit.”

“The cops,” Dylan muttered, shaking his head. He didn’t seem to bothered, and Grizz couldn’t help the immediate thought that went through his mind. _I don’t have money to bail myself out like you._ “Let’s get out of here.” 

Dylan grabbed his hand and helped him off the counter (not that Grizz needed it, but the gesture was nice), leading him out of the door through the back way like it was second nature. Grizz wondered just how many times Dylan had been in here this late as he followed, watching Dylan move around the now almost pitch-black room with a certain expertise. He was lead out to an alleyway, and the two of them walked down it and out to the street. If this had been his real world, Grizz was sure he would have been mugged or at least seen heroin needles lying around in the alley, but nothing of the sort was spotted in this one. Not to mention the fact that the cops somehow didn’t see them, but Grizz wasn’t even about to go into that. 

Thunder rumbled overhead, and in the distance Grizz could see lightning flashing. _Weird. The sky was clear, like, two hours ago._ The two of them walked on, the street completely empty of people and cars as they turned the corner and away from the flashing police lights. Now it was quiet, the only noise the thunder above them and the faint sounds of driving cars on different streets. 

“I guess the silent alarm must have tripped,” Dylan spoke as they walked, and Grizz nodded, suddenly unsure how to continue the conversation that they had just been having. It was like the moment was there, in the background, but Grizz was unsure how to pursue the conversation and make it go on and on like it just had. Dylan seemed to be having the same problem for just a brief second, before he looked over at Grizz and said casually, “Favorite childhood memory? Like, early childhood.” With the easy questions coming back, Grizz felt himself relax and the pressure of having something to say slipping away like a leaf swirling down a lazy river.

“It’d have to be gardening with my mom, easy. Every Sunday we’d go out there and weed the garden together, and we’d go and pick whatever was ripe together, too. We had a lot of salad growing up because the ingredients were free from our garden and fresh. And we had lots of fruits, like strawberries. Strawberries were my favorite. On special days we’d buy a bag of chocolate and melt it all, and get a bunch of marshmallows and bananas and other stuff to dip into it. It was the best.” As he spoke, he was practically glowing, eyes vibrant as he remembered the feeling of going out on a warm, sunny day to pick vegetables and fruit from the garden. He didn’t notice Dylan watching him with a smile until he turned to ask Dylan what his was. They were crossing the street, and Grizz felt himself trip over a pothole in the middle of the road.

Everything happened all at once.

Grizz felt his whole body tip forward, a gasp escaping his lips as he tripped. He felt Dylan’s arms catch him around the waist, spinning him so that he fell with his back to the pavement but catching him in a dip much like the tango. Grizz’s gaze met Dylan’s as Dylan leaned in, lips pressing against Grizz’s in a gentle kiss as the rain started to pour. _I’m in the middle of a street, kissing one of the hottest people I have ever seen while the rain comes down. Rom-coms. So. Stupid._ Even as he thought that, he couldn’t help but feel a giddy kind of joy in getting to experience this. He could feel his younger self starting to come out, enjoying the moments he was so sure he would never get to have. Sure, he had always imagined it with someone else (a certain red-head came to mind), but he supposed he couldn’t exactly be picky with the way things were turning out. If Sam wanted to be with a model, then that was his business- _and why am I thinking about Sam, anyway? I’m kissing Dylan._

The two pulled apart after a minute, and Grizz let out a soft breath as he stood up straight again. The two of them stared at each other for a minute, and suddenly Dylan looked shy, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“I’m sorry, I should have asked first-”

“No, it’s- it’s okay. I liked it,” Grizz said sheepishly. _Am I in middle school or something? Why do we sound like teenagers?_

“In that case, I do believe we’re back at your place.” Dylan nodded to the building behind them, and Grizz blinked, startled and not sure when that had happened. Had they walked that far so quickly? Grizz couldn’t tell what was rom-com movie magic and what was real anymore. It was a thin line, at this point, and Grizz felt too much like he was in a daze to really be able to tell right now. “If you want to continue this.”

Five minutes later Grizz was being pushed up against a wall, Dylan pressed up against him and feeling overheated, but definitely not in a bad way. Dylan unbuttoned Grizz’s shirt (much too slowly for Grizz’s taste), trailing his fingers down and-

 

~

 

 

Grizz woke with a start, tangled in his sheets with only boxers on. “What the…?” He said in confusion, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The door to the bathroom opened, and out walked Dylan in nothing but a towel, steam from the shower he had just taken fogging up the mirror behind him and his whole body wet. 

“Finally,” his accent was thick, slightly sleepy even after his shower. “You’re finally awake. You slept for a long time.” Dylan reached out and ruffled Grizz’s hair with a hand gently, and Grizz tried not to scrunch his nose up in slight distaste. “Listen, I’ve been thinking a lot. About, you know… you. No one’s ever made me feel like this,” Dylan sat down on the edge of the bed, taking Grizz’s hand. His eyes were filled with warmth and something else Grizz couldn’t quite place. “You’re so… extraordinary. And I don’t think I’m ever going to find someone that makes me feel like this again.” 

“Okay…” Grizz said slowly, not exactly sure where this was going and still trying to process last night. He couldn’t remember anything after Dylan had taken off his shirt, and he was trying to figure out exactly why. After a second of thinking, the memory of the water fountain and his first realization came over him, and he mentally swore. _PG-13. You’ve GOT to be kidding me._

“I know this is early, but… I think…” Dylan looked nervous, and Grizz snapped back to attention, watching as the words began to form. “I…” everything slowed down, and Grizz cursed rom-coms once again. “Love…” _‘I think I need to get someone to fall in love with me’. Shit._ “Y-”

“Wait!” Grizz interrupted, and time sped up again, going back to normal. Grizz resisted rolling his eyes. “Okay, just… this is going to sound weird. But last night-”

“Was amazing?”

“Well, ah, yes, but I don’t think we really…” Grizz said awkwardly, gesturing between the two of them. Dylan looked clueless, tilting his head and furrowing his brows. “You know, we didn’t… like…” When Dylan didn’t look any less confused, Grizz rolled his eyes, grabbing the towel and yanking him close. “Come here-” 

 

~

 

Grizz woke with a start, tangled in his sheets with only boxers on. “No. Way.” 

“Finally!” Dylan said as he came out of the bathroom, only in a towel and condensation practically dripping off him. “You’re finally awake. You slept for a long time.” Dylan reached out to ruffle Grizz’s hair, and Grizz dodged it, staring up at Dylan. Without allowing Dylan to keep talking, Grizz pulled on the towel again, yanking Dylan close. 

 

~

 

Grizz woke with a start, tangled in his sheets with only boxers on. _“Seriously?_ I can’t have this _one_ thing?” He shouted at the ceiling, throwing his arms over his head. He heard the bathroom door open, and could hear Dylan’s footsteps. Without looking, he already knew that Dylan would be only in the towel, and knew the next words before he spoke them.

“Finally! You’re finally awake. You slept for a long time.” 

“If I’m gonna go, I’m at least taking some stuff with me,” Grizz muttered, knowing that this speech would end in an “I love you” and that, hopefully, that meant he would go back. Dylan watched him quizzically as he grabbed an expensive looking glass koala, as well as a fancy looking ash tray and a couple of other things that were laying on the desk. “Let’s just skip this part, okay? Hit me with it.” Grizz held the stuff close to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for the words. Dylan smiled, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“I love you.”


	7. The Realization

When nothing happened, Grizz opened one eye to peek. Dylan sat in front of him, looking completely serious and lovey-dovey. Grizz blinked and sat up fully, setting the stuff down slowly. “Can you just… say that again?”

“What?”

“You know. The thing. That you just said.” Grizz nodded enthusiastically and squeezed his eyes shut again, waiting expectantly. 

“I… love you?”

Grizz held his breath, waiting for some huge woosh that would take him back to his world, his dimension. But there was no portal that swallowed him up, no feeling of falling through space or whatever the hell it feels like to travel through worlds. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes again and slumped back against the headboard, running his fingers through his hair. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Is something wrong?” Dylan asked Grizz, grabbing his hand in a concerned motion. Grizz didn’t move his hand to grip Dylan’s, but he didn’t move it away, either, just allowing it to be. 

“Yes. No. I don’t- no. Everything’s fine.” 

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Grizz said again, trying to not let his annoyance show in his voice. He wasn’t sure he was ever going to get home, and he was starting to get seriously worried. He didn’t want to be here where everyone was weird and smelled like lavender and everything was perfect. He wanted his normal, trashy city and his normal, idiotic but loveable friends. And now he had no idea what to do.

“Okay. Well, why don’t you get ready and we’ll go out for lunch? I know this exquisite little place that has simply the best omelettes.” Dylan beamed at him, and even though all he wanted to do was curl up in the covers and go back to sleep (or, more accurately, mope), Grizz nodded and pushed the covers off him. A few minutes later, he was dressed in a simple and light outfit with a blue and white button up tucked into a pair of colored shorts with a black belt. Mentally, he made a note to try and find a similar outfit at home, because he kind of liked how this one made him look goofy, but still himself. It also kind of gave him a beach vibe, which he was very happy with.

“Ready?” Dylan asked as he finished buttoning up his own shirt, hair still wet. Dylan pulled his fingers through his hair so that it looked a little less messy, and when Dylan’s attention was back on Grizz the boy nodded. Dylan offered his arm with a cheesy sort of grin on his face, and rolling his eyes, Grizz took it. The twinkle in his eyes betrayed him, though, showing that he liked it a lot more than he chose to admit. _Rom-coms. So stupid._

The two of them walked outside together, and Grizz relished in the warmest weather he had felt in ages. The streets were filled with people, but not in the overcrowded way that New York usually sponsored. Instead, it was filled with couples, scattered around the street. They were everywhere, sitting together on a park bench, having a picnic in the park across the street, taking selfies together. As they passed, a flower cart vendor who seemed to only speak French offered Grizz a flower, a kind smile on her face as she spoke. 

“Salut! Vous deux sont tres mignon,” the words were fast and fluid, but Grizz loved language and words and had studied French since high school. He loved the complexity that words had, the potential that was sometimes lost on others because they only saw language classes as another chore to do. In fact, he- _Okay, not the time, Grizz._

“Merci beaucoup!” He took the rose from her with a smile, and she beamed at him with a new kind of happiness.

“De rien, monsieur!” 

“You speak French?” Dylan asked as they walked, and Grizz nodded. 

“I like learning, I like words, and I think other cultures are interesting… mix them all up and you get an odd fascination with different languages. I’m also fluent in ASL.” 

“That’s like the English but with hands language, right?”

“No, not quite. ASL is actually classified as a language itself, not English. It’s complicated and sometimes actually more expressive than English, which makes it so-” 

“Eric!” Dylan exclaimed, interrupting Grizz without even thinking about it as they stepped into the cold diner. Grizz looked up, and indeed, there stood Eric, along with Sam. His mouth was suddenly dry, and Grizz felt like he’d kill for a glass of water as Sam gave him a little wave. His blue eyes were shining, and Grizz’s gaze drifted down to see Eric and Sam’s fingers intertwined. 

“Um,” Grizz heard, rather than felt, himself say. “Um,” he repeated stupidly, and then shook his head, tearing his gaze away from Sam and Eric’s hands. “You two know each other?” He asked, gesturing between Dylan and Eric as they hugged. 

“Yeah!” Eric said eagerly. “And we met-”

“On the worst yacht party ever!” Dylan finished, laughing. Eric joined him, and Grizz raised his eyebrows. _They’ve been to multiple yacht parties? Of course they have._ Suddenly, Grizz was annoyed with everything, especially Dylan and his stupid deep laugh. 

“Yes! The champagne was terrible, and the snobbiest people were there. People you’d never guess, too! Selena Gomez? Total bitch. Seriously. I mean, does she even own a yacht, or is she just leeching off of everyone else?” Eric continued, and suddenly, Eric and Dylan were both in their own heated conversation. Sam looked clueless as to what was going on, and Grizz knew from experience that they were talking so fast he didn’t know what they were saying.

 _“You okay?”_ Grizz signed, and Sam nodded slowly.

 _“Yeah, they’re just talking too fast. I’m used to it.”_ When Grizz raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Eric, Sam shook his head, frowning. _“It’s fine. He just forgets.”_

 _“He should put in more of an effort,”_ Grizz frowned too, looking over at Eric. Eric was oblivious to the fact that Grizz and Sam were having a whole different conversation, and so was Dylan, both talking to each other about the stupid yacht party.

 _“That’s not fair,”_ Sam signed in an almost reprimanding way. _“Some people just… it just slips their mind.”_

 _“He should put in more of an effort,”_ Grizz repeated, crossing his arms over his chest when he was done. 

 _“You don’t get to judge him. You don’t know him,”_ Sam pointed out, and Grizz sighed. 

_“You’re right, I don’t.”_

“Anyways, Sam and I were just talking about a little get together we’re throwing tomorrow. It’s at my vacation house on the beach, it’s just a small little party.” Eric interrupted Grizz and Sam’s conversation, and Grizz barely suppressed an eye roll. Since Eric was standing next to Sam and talking to Grizz and Dylan, Sam couldn’t read his lips and see what he was saying. Grizz automatically let himself translate as the conversation started up again, helping Sam out with everything that he couldn’t see. 

“Really? That sounds great!” Dylan answered for them both enthusiastically. “We’ll be there. I can fly us out on my helicopter.” 

“Oh, okay! I was gonna suggest my helicopter, but if you have your own, that works, too!” Eric said cheerfully. 

“Man, you two are so alike,” Grizz cut in with a forced laugh. “It’s crazy, really. Maybe we should just switch.” He spoke to Eric. Sam gave him an odd look, and so did the other two. There was an awkward silence, and Grizz forced out another laugh. Slowly, Dylan and Eric started to laugh, too. 

“He’s kidding,” Sam shook his head at Grizz, a look that Grizz couldn’t quite place in his eyes. “Obviously.” 

“Of course,” Eric wrapped an arm around Sam’s waist, grinning down at him, and Grizz felt something churn in his stomach at the movement. “So we’ll see you guys there tomorrow?” 

“Definitely,” Dylan answered for both of them again, and Grizz just really wanted to lay down. 

“Alright. See you guys tomorrow,” Eric hugged Dylan again and then gave Grizz a little smile, before he grabbed Sam’s hand and the two of them slipped out of the diner and into the light. 

 

~ 

 

“This is a little get together?” Grizz said as he and Dylan walked through Eric’s backyard. Dozens of little white canopy tents were set up in a neat fashion, two rows split by a long sidewalk that led away from the house. Grizz could see beach in the background, and figured the path led all the way until it reached sand. White fairy lights were strung up around the ceiling of each individual tent, and poles help them up lining the walkway too. Food tables were set up too, with foods like lobster, steak, and crab filling them. People milled about, filling almost every single tent up. Inside each tent was a round table with ten or so seats, candles and flowers in the middle, and fine china. 

The house itself was gorgeous and huge, bigger than anything Grizz thought he would ever own. It was two stories and looked about half the size of his whole apartment building, which meant about four or five times bigger than his apartment. The back opened up into a stone deck, and stairs curved up both sides to meet the deck. White streamers were woven through the columns on the stairs, and everything looked luxurious and, well, expensive. Ivy was growing up the right side of the house- or, rather, mansion- and the whole place looked so elegant that Grizz would have thought a prince lived there. 

“Yup,” Dylan nodded, not seeming to realize that this definitely did not match Grizz’s idea of a “get together”. 

“You guys made it!” Came from behind them, and they turned to see Eric and Sam standing there, both of them smiling from ear to ear. 

“This place looks amazing,” Grizz said, gesturing around vaguely for emphasis. “I mean… wow. Seriously, it’s amazing.” 

“We’re glad you like it,” Eric said warmly. “It was kind of last minute.” Something seemed to catch Eric’s eye, and he perked up. “Kristen!” He called, holding up a hand and waving. He jogged away from the three of them and towards the woman, and Grizz could faintly hear the convo beginning. “Hi! How are you? … I know, so long…” 

“I think I’m actually gonna go catch up with Kristen, too, it’s been a while since we’ve all hung out. If that’s okay?” Dylan checked, and Grizz nodded. Dylan leaned over and gave him a forehead kiss. “Don’t miss me too much.” With that, Dylan was gone, following Eric and Kristen over to a canopy tent. 

 _“And then there were two,”_ Grizz signed, smiling at Sam. Sam nodded in the direction of the beach, hands moving fast. 

_“Take a walk with me?”_

_“Of course.”_ As soon as the words were signed, the two of them started walking down the path and towards the beach. 

_“So how are you and Dylan?”_

_“Good, I guess. Our first date went really well, and we went and got ice cream and spent hours talking. It was pretty fun. What about you and Eric?”_ The name was a little slower than the rest of the sentence, and Grizz swallowed, hoping Sam wouldn’t notice his momentary lapse. 

 _“Good,”_ Sam said enthusiastically, beaming at the mention of him. _“Like, really good. We actually have an announcement at the end of the party. It’s not important right now. But I’m happy.”_

_“That’s… really great, Sam. You deserve to be happy.”_

“Thanks,” the word was spoken softly, and Grizz looked over to find the red-head looking down. He looked completely consumed by his thoughts, so Grizz didn’t sign a word, allowing him to simply stew. Finally, Sam looked up at him, continuing to walk as he started to sign. _“You know, I always thought it would be me and you.”_

_“What?”_

_“I always thought it would be me and you,”_ He repeated, and Grizz watched his hands closely, not entirely sure he was getting this correctly. 

“Uh…” 

“I always thought it would be me and you.” Sam spoke this time, like he knew that Grizz had been caught off guard and not entirely sure if he had gotten it right. His hands moved at the same time, but Sam continued to speak so that he wouldn’t have to keep repeating for Grizz. “Like, ending up together.” 

Grizz blinked, feeling an odd sense of deja vu wash over him, along with a small piece of a memory. 

_‘I always thought it would be me and him.’ It was Grizz speaking, and Grizz could see a flash of Luke’s face, a beer, and fingers tapping on wood. ‘He always looked at me like…. Like… I just always thought, somehow, it would be us, I guess.’_

The memory faded as quickly as it had come, and Grizz frowned, brushing it off for some odd dream that he had. Sam was still talking, he realized, and with a little embarrassment he tapped Sam’s shoulder and signed, _“Sorry, what?”_

Sam gave him an impatient look, but his voice was anything but. “I always thought that we were supposed to end up together. Us against the world, you know? It’s stupid, I know.” Now, Sam laughed, shaking his head as they reached the end of the pavement. The sun was starting to set, the horizon turning a pretty orange and purple color. 

“It’s not stupid,” Grizz said slowly, making sure that Sam could read his lips. 

“Yeah, it is.” Sam shrugged, toeing the ground and suddenly thinking that it was super interesting. “This isn’t some romantic comedy, right? That would be way too cliche.” The sand crunched in a sort of satisfying way underneath Sam’s shoe, and Grizz shook his head to get himself to move past that. _Not the time, dude._

“Except it is.” Grizz muttered, since Sam was still looking down at the ground and not at him. Then, his brain seemed to catch up with his mouth, and he felt his eyes widen in surprise. “Except it is…” he said slowly to himself, running his fingers through his hair. “Oh my god, I’m such an idiot! Of course I don’t end up with the obvious love interest, it’s Sam! I need to fall in love with Sam!” 

Miraculously, Sam didn’t look up until the moment after he said that, and Grizz couldn’t help but laugh. _Stupid. Rom-coms._ He bit his lip, smiling widely as he looked down at the boy who was now looking back up at him. “Sam, I-” 

“Sam!” A familiar voice called, and Grizz closed his eyes, smile dropping off his face. _You’ve got to be kidding me._

“He can’t hear you!” Grizz shouted back at Eric as the man came jogging down the pavement. He opened his eyes to see Sam’s questioning gaze focused on him, and he sighed in frustration, pointing in Eric’s direction. “Boyfriend,” he said, and pulled away from where he stood, away from Sam. 

“Grizz, are you okay?” Sam asked quietly, voice lowered so that Eric couldn’t hear as the man continued to walk towards them.

“I’m fine. I think he needs you, though. Looks pretty important.” Grizz raised his eyebrows, and sudden realization seemed to dawn on Sam. The boy’s face lit up again, excitement in his gaze. 

“The announcement! You have to come,” Sam nodded in the direction of the party, and Grizz nodded slowly, following the two of them reluctantly. Within a couple minutes they were back at the party, not taking as much time as he and Sam did to get there in the first place. Dylan walked over to join Grizz, standing next to him as the other couple made their way up the elegant looking stairs together. They stopped at the top, and Eric tapped a little knife against his glass to get everyone’s attention. They were standing in full view of everyone, and Eric slid an arm around Sam’s waist.

“If we could have your attention, please,” Eric’s smooth voice rang out, a charming smile on the man’s face as he spoke. “This isn’t just a regular get together, as some of you have probably noticed by now.” Sam stood silent, just beaming down at everyone as Eric did all of the talking. Grizz had a bad feeling in his chest, watching the two up on the deck with baited breath as Eric continued. “I know it’s fast, and we’ve only known each other for a little while. But with Sam, here, I feel things that I’ve never felt before. As you may have noticed, the theme today at this little party is white. That was for a reason. This is an engagement party!” 

Grizz couldn’t breathe. It stopped in his throat, a hiccup that he couldn’t shake. Another piece of the vague memory seemed to swallow him for a second as applause and cheers surrounded him, taking him away from the party for a second and to the bar that he had been at just the other day. 

_“It’s not too late,” Luke disagreed, taking the rest of the beer away from Grizz and causing the boy to look over at him. “It’s not too late. They’re not, like, getting married. Okay?”_

Grizz stared up at the two of them as the cheers continued, and Eric lifted his glass into the air.

“Sam and I are getting married!” 


	8. Dance with Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I've been at a camp for the past week, but it's over now and I'm back with an update. I just want to also add that while sometimes the chapters may be more spaced out, I'm not going to abandon the story and I'm probably going to finish it with the next few chapters. That said, enjoy!

“I don’t know what to do now,” Grizz said into the phone, hidden away in one of the little tents as everyone celebrated outside. “He’s getting married, Luke. To a rich male model.”

“Since when has Sam ever cared about money or looks?” Luke pointed out. “You guys have history.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that he’s getting _married.”_

“But he’s not married yet, is he?” Came pointedly from Luke’s end of the phone. Then, faintly, “Helena, it’s- no, of course not. Grizz. Yes. No, it’s malum prohibitum, right- yeah.” 

“No, he’s not,” Grizz said once he could tell Luke’s attention was back on him. “But how I supposed to-” 

“Just prove to him that you’re better. You know you’re better for him than Eric is, right? So show him, too.”

“It’s harder than it sounds.” 

“I know.” Luke’s voice turned soft. “But Grizz, you’ve been holding this back for years. It’s now or never, man.” 

“I know,” Grizz’s voice was quiet, and he shut his eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Thanks, Luke.” 

“Of course,” the other boy said warmly. “Any time.” With that, Grizz hung up, setting his phone on the table in front of him and running his fingers over the soft table cloth. He didn’t know how the hell he was supposed to prove to Sam that they were supposed to be together instead, without just talking to him about it. And logically, while he knew that that was an option, he didn’t think it was exactly a great one. _Hey, Sam. I’ve kind of liked you for years and now that you found someone else, I’m telling you! Now we can be together!_ Yeah, he was a fucking idiot. 

“What’re you doing out here?” 

Grizz’s head shot up, and he pushed his brown hair back and out of his face as Sam came into view. “Too many people,” Grizz lied, shrugging and playing with the table cloth. Sam sat down next to him, leaning back in his chair so he could watch Grizz and capture what he was saying. Grizz studied him for a brief minute, gaze questioning. “Shouldn’t you be out there with Eric, getting congratulated?”

Sam shrugged, nudging Grizz’s foot with his own. “I noticed the person that I really wanted to see wasn’t there.” 

“Sorry. Congratulations, by the way.” 

“Thanks.” There was a pause where both of them stayed silent, and Grizz tucked his hair behind his ear. Then, a flash of a memory washed over him, and he couldn’t help the smile that came over his face as he sat back and signed.

“ _Bullshit._ ” 

Sam laughed, shifting in his chair so that he was facing Grizz better. _“I think you know a little more than that now.”_

_“Yeah, I think so, too.”_

_“That’s the first time you ever talked to me,”_ Sam signed, gaze matter-of-fact, not hurt or bitter or anything. _“Gareth “Grizz” Visser. Football star. Secret huge nerd.”_

_“Am not!”_

_“Are too,”_ Sam grinned, face teasing. _“I think it was the first time I noticed you for like, real.”_ Sam admitted. “ _Before then, I kind of just lumped you in with the rest of the brainless jocks.”_

 _“Not all of them are brainless,”_ Grizz countered. _“Luke’s pretty great. Clark and Jason- well, I think Clark and Jason share a brain cell between them sometimes, but I love them anyways.”_

_“Okay, they’re exceptions. But the rest are pretty brainless. I kind of just pictured you as one of them up until that night, but when you came up and talked to me? After that, you were just someone I wanted to be around, you know? Fun. Smart.”_

_“Well, I definitely noticed you before.”_ Grizz felt irritation rise up as his hair fell into his face for the fifth time, and grabbed a hair tie from his suit pocket, pulling his hair up in a bun on top of his head. “ _I was trying so hard to be straight. And you walk in, every day, unashamedly you. It blew my mind.”_

 _“I tend to do that to people.”_ At that, Grizz rolled his eyes, shoving his shoulder and laughing. 

_“Whatever you say, stud.”_

_“You gonna stick around for the after party?”_ Sam asked, and Grizz nodded, despite the fact that he just wanted to go home and think about how he was going to fix this. And maybe take a hot bath. Sam grinned mischievously as soon as Grizz nodded. _“You shouldn’t have agreed with that without knowing what we’re gonna be doing.”_

 _“Oh no,”_ Grizz’s smile dropped, and he let out a guttural groan. _“Please don’t tell me it’s-”_

“Dancing!” Sam cheered, fists pumping in the air. _“You know I love dancing.”_

_“I think you’ve forgotten the fact that I can’t dance.”_

_“Everyone can dance,”_ Sam argued. 

 _“I can’t. I’m all awkward limbs and tripping and… bleh,”_ he made a face to emphasize his point, raising his eyebrows. _“Seriously. I’m a menace. It’s dangerous for everyone around me.”_

 _“You’re not getting out of it. There’s no use fighting it,”_ Sam crossed his arms over his chest, smiling and leaning back. _“It’s my engagement party. You can’t say no to me.”_

 _Like I could say no to you anyways,_ Grizz thought to himself, and then after a brief second of staring he realized what he was doing and cleared his throat awkwardly. _“We’ll see. I just might knock everybody out by accident.”_

 _“I think it’ll be okay,”_ Sam reached out and ruffled Grizz’s hair, successfully pulling out the ponytail and causing it to flop down over Grizz’s eyes. Grizz blew out a breath in a short puff and the hair flew up a little before coming back down. 

“You guys ready to go?” Eric said as he entered the tent, most of the people from the party long gone by now. Grizz translated for Sam and then gave Eric a short nod, smile faltering just a little. If Sam noticed, he didn’t say anything as Eric offered the red-head a hand. Sam took it and Eric pulled Sam to his feet, then locking their fingers together and walking with Sam outside. Grizz sighed softly and got to his feet, trailing his fingers across the table cloth as he followed the couple outside. The sun was setting and the air was cool, and if he wasn’t in this situation, Grizz would be stunned at how beautiful everything here was. Instead, he made his way over to Dylan. 

“Ready to go, babe?” 

“Yeah.”

 

~

 

The party was a lot smaller than Grizz expected it to be. Only about half of the party guests had shown up to the second one, or only about half were invited. Either way, it wasn’t as crowded as he thought it would be, a fact he registered with relief. There also seemed to be plenty of drinks, which Grizz knew he would be needing if Sam insisted on making him dance. The music was loud enough that Sam would be able to feel the vibrations pulsing through the floor, walls- well, everywhere. 

Scanning the room, Grizz spotted Sam almost immediately at the bar, talking to Eric and holding a glass of some vague brown liquid that looked a little like whiskey. Immediately the taller boy made his way across the floor and over to Sam, moving around the dancing people. Dylan didn’t follow, getting lost somewhere in the crowd, but Grizz couldn’t bring himself to really pay attention to Dylan at the moment. He brushed off the stool next to Sam and sat down, tapping Sam’s shoulder to get his attention. 

 _“Hey,”_ he signed with a smile, and Sam spun his stool so that he was facing Grizz instead of Eric.

 _“Hey,”_ Sam signed back with a smile. _“I see you decided to come even though you knew we’re gonna be dancing.”_

_“As your best friend, it’s kind of my job to be here for this.”_

_“Very true.”_ Sam nodded with a completely serious face, before losing it and laughing. Grizz watched him with a fond smile, allowing himself to be completely struck for a minute. Sam was the one for him. How had he ever doubted it before? Faintly, Grizz noticed Eric slip out of his seat and off onto the dance floor. 

The word vomit seemed to strike Grizz again, and without realizing it Grizz was signing and speaking at the same time. _“Best friends have a lot of jobs. I mean, I have to watch out for you, you know? We have each other’s backs. And sometimes that means being brutally honest, like telling you if your hair makes you look like you just got hit by lightning.”_ Sam watched him as he rambled with an amused and bewildered tilt of his head, blue eyes changing color because of the flickering red and green lights in the room. _“Or if you’re with a person that’s wrong for you.”_ Now, Sam’s gaze seemed to get a little more guarded, watching Grizz closely. _Shit, Grizz, seriously? Subtle._ He thought to himself, and forced himself to keep going to brush it off. _“So I just wanted you to know that I’m always here, you know? I’ll always be your best friend.”_

 _“Okay,”_ Sam said slowly, not really sure where that came from. Grizz gave him a weak smile and internally scolded himself, ordering a beer and a couple shots for the both of them. 

“Do you guys wanna dance?” Came a voice from behind them, and Grizz sighed softly before turning, translating for Sam since he couldn’t hear what Eric had said and it was dark. 

“Of course!” Sam beamed at Eric and hopped down off his stool.

“I’ll pass,” Grizz shrugged, taking a small sip of his beer. 

“Come on,” Sam whined, grabbing Grizz’s hand and pulling. Immediately, Grizz felt lightning race up from his fingertips. Both Grizz and Eric’s eyes suddenly seemed glued to the two hands, but for two very different reasons. 

“Uh…” His mouth was dry, and he couldn’t seem to get any words out. 

“That’s okay,” Eric said, and all of a sudden his voice seemed cold, gaze meeting Grizz’s in an almost challenging way. “Some people just aren’t made for the spotlight.” 

There was a pause, and Grizz saw Sam’s eyes flash briefly with an emotion that Grizz couldn’t seem to place- surprise, maybe? Anger?- before Grizz straightened, drawing himself up to his full height. He didn’t like to push the fact that he was taller than most guys, but he didn’t mind using it on Eric. He felt some odd sort of satisfaction at the fact that Eric had to look up to meet his gaze. 

“You know what? Dancing sounds fun. I’m assuming we both get a turn with-” He started pointedly, and Eric interrupted smoothly, gaze never leaving Grizz’s.

“The _husband-to-be_ ? Of course, seeing as you’re his best _friend.”_  

Grizz opened his mouth to snap back at Eric, but Sam gave a nervous laugh and spoke first. “Eric, why don’t we dance first?” The boy’s blue eyes darted back and forth between the two, and Grizz frowned, pulling away from the two.

“Go for it.” 

“Yes, let’s.” Eric grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled him away from Grizz. Letting out a sigh, Grizz sat down on the stool again and ran his fingers through his hair. 

“That’s it? You’re just gonna let him do that?” A voice said to the left of him, and jumped. 

“Luke? How did you even get here?”

“The bus?” 

“No, I mean into the party. It’s invitation only.” 

“I just told them I’m your plus one.” Luke shrugged, and Grizz was once again reminded of the rom-com magic that seemed to be everywhere here. Accepting the answer, he shrugged and sighed. 

“What do you mean, ‘you’re just gonna let him do that’?” 

“Take Sam from you like that. Fight for your man, man.” Luke watched him intently, eyebrows raised. 

“Look, I know we said all that stuff over the phone, but let’s be real. He’s getting _married_. If he didn’t want to be with Eric, he wouldn’t be, right?” 

“He just doesn’t realize who’s really right for him.” Luke argued. “You and I both know you’re better for him than some rich model who can’t even bother to learn sign language.” 

“How did you know- you know what, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if we know it, Sam doesn’t. And I don’t know how to get him to realize it.”

“You know what Sam likes. What he loves to do, his interests- you guys know each other better than you know yourselves. Eric doesn’t have any of that on you. Use that to your advantage,” Luke suggested. 

Grizz paused, allowing himself to draw his thoughts together, and then looked over his shoulder at Sam. “Okay. Yeah, I can do that,” he whispered to himself. 

“Yes, you can,” Luke clapped Grizz on the shoulder, even though logically there was no way Luke should have been able to hear that because of how quiet it was. 

Grizz steeled himself and then stood up, giving Luke a nervous smile before making his way over to where Sam and Eric were dancing. 

“Can I cut in?” 

“Actually-” Eric started. 

“Of course,” Sam said at the same time, not paying attention to Eric as he looked up at Grizz. Grizz smiled and a reluctant Eric stepped away, muttering something about getting a drink anyway as he stalked off in the other direction. 

“Now remember that I’m pretty terrible at this,” Grizz reminded Sam as he stepped forward to take Eric’s place. Almost magically- _Stupid rom-coms-_ the song changed to a slow song, so Grizz wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist as Sam brought his arms up and around Grizz’s neck. Well aware that he was closer than he really should be, Grizz tightened his grip just slightly and let himself just absorb the feeling of holding Sam like this.

  “That’s okay, you can learn from the best.” Sam responded with a grin as they moved in a small circle. 

“Yeah,” Grizz said distractedly, biting his lip. He reminded himself that Sam was only watching his lips so that he knew when Grizz was speaking as Sam’s blue eyes flickered down from his eyes. Not for the first time, he wondered what it’d be like to kiss the red-head. “Sam, can we talk about what you said a while ago? On the beach?” 

“It’s not important.” Now the boy’s gaze went to the floor again, and Grizz shook his head, kicking his foot lightly. Begrudgingly, Sam looked up at him again. 

“I’m not letting you get away with it that easily.”

“Grizz, seriously. It’s not important. It’s in the past, you know? I’m with Eric now.”

There was a pause, and it was Grizz’s turn to look at the ground, debating whether or not he should really say this. Finally, the words came out, with Grizz not able to meet Sam’s gaze.

“What if you weren’t?” 

“What?” Sam’s voice could barely be heard over the music. Grizz looked at him finally, thinking that he didn’t understand what he had just said, but Sam’s smile was gone. He looked more serious than he had this whole conversation, and Grizz knew that Sam had understood what Grizz had said with crystal clarity. 

“I just- I’ve been to scared to say anything, but-” 

“My turn,” a voice interrupted, and he really wasn’t a violent person, but if Eric interrupted him confessing to Sam one more time Grizz thought he might actually lose it. Sam’s eyes remained on him, though something told Grizz that Sam was well aware of Eric’s presence and that Eric wanted to dance. 

“Actually-” Sam s=began, but Grizz just gave a little shake of his head.

“We can talk later.” He murmured, turning away from the two of them again. He could feel Sam’s gaze burning a hole in his back, but he just kept walking until he was beside Luke again.

“Dude,” Luke said, shaking his head, and Grizz buried his head in his arms on the sticky bar counter. 

“I know,” the taller boy groaned, and he felt a reassuring hand on his back. 

“You’ll figure it out. You just need to talk to him alone. Or stop letting Eric ruin the moment.” 

“Eric’s his fiancé. I can’t just tell him to fuck off.” Luke scoffed as soon as the words were spoken. 

“You’re Sam’s best friend, and you both know you’re more. You totally can.” Grizz raised his head and looked at Luke pointedly, and Luke amended his statement. “Okay, maybe not with those words. But Eric doesn’t control Sam’s life. If Sam wants to talk to you, we both know Eric can’t stop him from doing it.” 

“True.” Grizz agreed, resting his head on his arm now and thinking. “I’ll ask him to go for a walk with me on the beach. Just us. Eric can’t possibly interrupt.” 

 

~

 

The night air was warm on Grizz’s face, and he could feel the sand underneath his feet. The sand was hard enough to walk on without it crumbling underneath them, the waves occasionally getting big enough to wash over his feet in little ripples. The stars were glittering on the water, something that Grizz chose to focus on instead of the music that he could hear about 500 yards behind them. Sam walked next to him, and their shoes dangled from each of their hands so that they could walk barefoot on the sand. At Grizz’s light urging, the party had all come out and had a bonfire on the beach, giving Grizz the perfect excuse to request a walk alone with Sam. Eric hadn’t looked happy about it, but he hadn’t said anything, turning back to talk to Dylan instead. 

Sam was quiet next to him, thinking, and Grizz let the silence between them stretch for a little while before he broke it, stopping and turning so that the bonfire lit enough of him that Sam could see his face and his hands. Multiple other bonfires were on the beach as well, mostly teenagers partying, which helped Grizz’s case. 

_“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that earlier.”_

_“No, you shouldn’t have,”_ Sam agreed, though he didn’t seem too mad, just pensive. _“What did you… mean?”_

Grizz looked at the ground and bit his lip hard, running his fingers through his hair. He rubbed his face with his hands and let out a breath. _“Sam, there’s… okay.”_ He shut his eyes and tried to clear his thoughts. _“I hate to answer your question with a question, but I’m going to. If… If you weren’t with Eric, and I asked you on a date, what would you say?”_

Sam’s gaze searched his for a minute, and neither of them said anything. Finally, Sam looked down, crossing his arms over his chest like it would put a barrier between him and Grizz’s words. “It doesn’t matter, because I am with Eric.” 

_“Humor me for a minute.”_

Sam was quiet again for a minute, but not long. _“If you had asked me out before I met Eric, I would have said yes.”_

The verbal confirmation was all Grizz needed, words spilling out of his mouth before he could stop them, hands barely able to keep up. _“I’m sorry that I didn’t realize it before, but Sam, I’ve liked you for so long and I never thought that I could- well, I never thought I had a shot. But now-”_

 _“You don’t.”_ Sam interrupted, voice loud and actions fast and a little more violent than they needed to be. _“Grizz, you don’t ‘have a shot’. I’m with Eric.”_

_“Yeah, but-”_

_“No!”_ Sam snapped, sounding upset. Grizz shut up right away, freezing in place. Sam never snapped, especially not at him. Sam looked surprised at himself, pausing in his sentence before continuing. _“Grizz, I’m with Eric now. Okay? Just because you’ve suddenly realized your feelings doesn’t mean I’m gonna just up and leave him to be with you.”_

_“No, yeah, I know. I just...”_

_“Didn’t think about how I’d feel about this? I mean, jesus, Grizz, I’ve liked you for years. Ever since that night at prom. Suddenly you were everywhere, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I waited for you to realize, but you never did, you know? You never seemed to notice me back. And then we graduated, and I thought I would never see you again, and half a year later we’re working in the same building. Like some crazy romance movie shit. And I thought, ‘it’s gonna happen this time.’ I was sure that a coincidence like that meant we were going to end up together.”_

_“Sam-”_

_“Just… listen.”_ Sam said quietly, and Grizz nodded, going radio silent. _“We got really close, you know? There were so many times where I thought you were going to kiss me. And you never did.”_

_“I wanted to.”_

_“But you didn’t.”_ Sam’s eyes were piercing, and they didn’t leave Grizz’s face. _“That’s the problem, Grizz. You didn’t. And now that I’m finally moving on, you come back with this? You can’t just do that.”_

 _“I’m sorry,”_ Grizz’s voice was barely a whisper, not that Sam could hear it anyway. _“I didn’t know.”_

 _“Of course you didn’t.”_ Sam squeezed his eyes shut for a second. _“You’re oblivious. I dropped so many hints, and I asked you out so many times without really asking you out. To the movies, a drink after work, anything I could think of. You always said no, so I thought that maybe you really just weren’t interested.”_

 _“I’m sorry.”_ Grizz repeated. _“I’m such an idiot. I’m sorry. I didn’t-”_

 _“Know.”_ Sam finished, and he drew himself together again, pulling away from Grizz just a little. The movement sent a stab through Grizz, and suddenly he felt like he was losing Sam. Like the boy wasn’t just pulling away physically, but emotionally, too. _“I know. But I can’t do this anymore, Grizz. This back and forth. It’s too much. I’m with Eric, and it needs to stop.”_

The words landed with a finality that made Grizz blink. “Okay,” he said slowly, head hurting. He could feel a dull pain behind his eyes, and he blinked rapidly. _“Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again. You deserve to be happy.”_

Sam’s eyes softened, and he took a step toward Grizz, before hesitating and taking a step back again. _“Thank you. I’m gonna head back, okay?”_

“Okay.” Grizz nodded, clearing his throat. _“I’m gonna stay here and walk for a little longer.”_

Sam nodded, and the two walked in separate directions.


	9. The Fight

Grizz stayed there for a while, staring at the dark blue water as it collided in gentle waves with the shore. He didn’t know how much time had passed, and quite frankly, he didn’t care. The fires were going strong, and he figured that as long as he got back relatively soon, nobody would really notice that he was gone. So he stood there, hands in his pockets and feeling like he had just lost the most important thing to him. 

It took ten more minutes for him to finally pull away from the water, walking back across the sand and towards the fire. There was a dark figure heading his way, a silhouette of a man that looked a little shorter than him, but definitely taller than Sam. Wondering if it was Dylan, Grizz squinted, but he couldn’t make out the facial features. 

Whoever it was, they were coming at Grizz at a steady pace, footsteps certain and strides long. Grizz slowed down and let the other man come to him. Fatigue washed over him in waves, and he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open without a lot of effort, fingers tugging on his hair as he pulled it back behind his ear. Slowly, the figure started to look familiar, until Eric slowed to a stop in front of him, looking seriously pissed off. 

“Hey, Eric,” Grizz said tiredly. 

“Cut the shit, Visser.” 

“What?” 

“You need to back off.” Eric snapped at him, arms folded across his chest.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Do you think I’m stupid? I see the way you look at Sam. Stop asking him to go places alone with you, stop doing your little…” Eric wiggled his fingers and gestured his hands around vaguely, “...thing.” 

Grizz couldn’t help the complete look of disdain that crossed over his face, anger rising and starting to wake him up. “He’s deaf, Eric. It’s sign language. It’s  _ his _ language.” 

“Well, it’s embarrassing to not know what my fiance is saying right in front of me!”

“Then maybe you should learn!” Grizz answered irritably, staring at Eric. 

“That’s not the point, Gareth.” 

“It’s Grizz,” he responded shortly. “You don’t get to call me that.” 

“The point is,” Eric blundered on, ignoring the interruption completely, “you need to stop.” 

“He’s my best friend. You expect me to just stop acting like it?” He didn’t realize how close Eric had gotten until this moment, nearly right up in his face, except for the fact that Grizz was quite a bit taller. 

“You and I both know you’re acting like more than that.” Eric’s voice was low, and sounded angry, a challenging look in his eyes. 

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You sure as hell do, Visser. I’m sorry you’re not good enough for him, but-” 

“ _ Me?  _ You’ve got some nerve,” he growled, and finally his emotions seemed to break whatever dam was holding them back, jaw clenching. “You don’t deserve him, and I’ve just been waiting for him to see that. You’re some rich dick who probably thinks all your buddies will think you’re cool for taking in some- what, project? The deaf guy with an actual job?” 

Eric stuttered over his words, completely taken off guard. His face flushed, and Grizz felt his anger grow as he realized that he had hit the nail on the head. “That’s not- it-” 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Grizz snapped. “He’s more than a project. He’s actual, amazing person who deserve a hell of a lot better than you!” 

“What, like you?” Eric’s voice was rising along with Grizz’s, straightening and taking a step closer. “He doesn’t  _ want _ you, Visser. He picked me. I may not be good enough for him, but I’m a lot better than  _ you.”  _ With those words, Eric placed two hands on Grizz’s chest and shoved hard, sending Grizz stumbling back. 

Grizz’s fist had connected with Eric’s face before he even realized what he was doing, so angry that he felt like he was going to explode. He was angry at this stupid rom-com, he was angry at Eric, he was angry at that crazy lady and the lampost, he was angry at Luke for convincing him to confess, but he was mostly angry at himself. 

Eric lunged forward and slammed his fist into Grizz’s jaw, causing the taller man to stumble backwards again. Before he could recover, Eric’s fist collided with his stomach and he doubled over with a groan. He ducked another swing from Eric and shoved him back, letting the years of living in the  _ real  _ version of New York kick in. 

His knuckles hit Eric’s cheekbone, and he had enough adrenaline rushing through him that he didn’t even feel the pain as the skin above his second knuckle split open. He hit him again, and the man went down with a yelp. Another punch let out a satisfying crack as it hit his jaw, bone connecting with bone. 

Eric swung hard, and there was a crunch nose as his fist connected with Grizz’s nose. A warm rush of blood came spilling out, and Grizz could taste iron as he lunged toward Eric again. 

“Stop!” Came a shout, and Grizz ignored it, hand curling back into a fist and raising. Sam skidded to a stop in between the two of them, hands out and bracing himself to take the hit for Eric. Two strong arms wrapped around Grizz’s midsection and yanked him back, but his arm had already dropped, because there was no way in hell he was gonna hurt Sam. The fight had left him as soon as he had seen Sam’s face. Grizz dropped his head, hair coming loose and hanging in front of his eyes. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Sam nearly shouted, anger basically simmering off him. Expecting him to be talking to Eric, Grizz raised his head, only to be met with Sam’s stunning blue eyes. But this time, they were hard and accusing, filled with fury. “I told you no and you assault my fiance?! What the hell, Grizz?” 

“He attacked me first!” Grizz said indignantly, watching as Eric slowly stood up off the ground, rubbing his jaw and wincing. He could taste the blood, still, and feel it drying. He could also tell by the ache in his jaw that he was gonna have a bruise there, and he had a split lip. When he breathed deeply, he could feel a throb in his ribs as well, confirming there would be a bruise there as well. 

Sam’s gaze went to Eric as if to ask if this is true, and Eric shook his head, looking offended. “I would never do that! All I did was ask him if he wanted to join us, and he jumped me!” A small crowd had gathered, all sympathizing with Eric and shaking their heads at Grizz. Even Sam didn’t seem to know who to believe, gaze coming back to Grizz. 

“You lying piece of-” Grizz practically snarled, all of the anger coming back. He lunged forward again, held in place by Dylan’s strong arms. Dylan tightened his grip and Grizz’s back pressed against Dylan’s chest. “He’s lying!” 

“Go home, Grizz,” Sam shook his head, and Grizz deflated, staring at Sam and feeling like he just got kicked in the stomach.  _ He doesn’t believe me.  _ Dylan’s grip loosened and he released Grizz slowly, like he wasn’t sure whether or not Grizz was gonna make a move. Grizz stumbled just slightly, hurt and upset. Sam steadied Grizz with a hand, pressing it against Grizz’s chest and speaking softly. “Go home.” 

 

~

 

“Grizz, it’s like, 12. Why are we here?” Clark asked with a yawn as he sat down at the bar table. Jason sat down next to Clark, Luke next to Grizz, and almost simultaneously they all held up a hand to order a beer. 

“Because I feel like getting wasted,” Grizz said moodily, and the three of them just stared at him, gazes questioning. 

“Oookay. Well, we have no problem doing that, but why?” 

“Does it matter? Since when do you guys need a reason to drunk?” He snapped, and then shut his eyes, exhaling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” 

“I know,” Jason said after a minute, frowning down at the table. “And I’m gonna let it slide because you’re obviously upset. What happened?” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Grizz repeated, shaking his head and pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth. He could feel his lip trembling, just slightly, and he looked down and furrowed his eyebrows to try and fight back the tears that threatened to slip out. It was like he had lost all control over his emotions today. 

“Grizz?” Clark said softly, and for once, all traces of humor were gone from his gaze and his voice. “Are you okay?” 

There was a long pause, and Grizz stared hard at the table for a minute, tense and clenching his teeth to try and keep everything back. He opened his mouth to say yes, but instead, his voice broke as he said, “No.” 

As soon as the word was uttered he broke, unreleased tears finally starting to make their way down his face. He buried his head in his arms as he cried, and felt two hands on his back, rubbing soothing circles. “I don’t know what to do anymore.” 

“Is it Sam?” Jason asked gently, and Grizz looked up, cheeks wet and face flushed. 

“Of course it’s Sam. It’s always been Sam.” 

“What happened?” Luke asked, dread in his voice. “Is this why you look like you just got mugged? Sam didn’t…?” 

“No, of course not.” Grizz sniffed again and wiped the tears away. “Eric, however…”

“I’ll kill that mother-” 

“It’s okay, Clark. Seriously. I kind of deserved it. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a dick, but I did kind of go after Sam like he didn’t even exist.” Grizz sighed, taking a long drink of his beer.

“You’re gonna have to explain before we give any opinions on anything.” Luke requested, and the other two leaned in, listening intently. 

So he explained. He explained the walk, the rejection, and the fight. He told them everything that was said, and just how much he had screwed up. By the end of it, the beers were almost gone, and they all looked pretty grim. 

“Well, it could have gone better,” Luke said tentatively. “But that doesn’t mean you should give up, right? I mean, you-” 

“Luke,” Grizz cut him off tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “He asked me to stop. And he’s right. Maybe it’s time to give up on this.” 

“I can’t believe you, Grizzy. This has been going on for this long and you’re just now telling us about it? We’re your wingmans- wingmen? Whatever. We’re here for you. We can totally ‘accidentally’ lock you two in a room or something.” Clark said enthusiastically, and Jason nodded in agreement. 

“We got your back, dude. You need us to set you up with Sam, we’ll set you up with Sam.” 

“You guys are missing the point. He already said no.” 

“We’ll make him say yes. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.” Jason said easily, shrugging. 

“ _ Guys.  _ He said no. It’s not fair to him to keep-”

“What about you?” Luke cut in. Grizz gave him a questioning look, and Luke leaned forward, serious. “You deserve a happy ending too. And I know you may not know it yet, but I think that he’s your happy ending and you’re his.” 

“Eric is his happy-” 

“No, listen. Do you even hear yourself? Eric is a douchebag who accused you of trying to steal Sam because you were using sign language with him. Sam will realize it too.” 

Grizz snorted. “He accused me of trying to steal Sam because I  _ was _ trying to steal Sam.” 

“Okay, while I’d love to keep going back and forth on this, it’s like, 12:30 and I have work tomorrow.” Clark interrupted before Luke could fire back. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow. And that’s not a request,” he finished pointedly, raising his eyebrows at Grizz. The man rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat. 

“The wedding is tomorrow. There’s no point.” 

“In the morning, then. We’ll talk to you, then you’ll talk to him.” 

Grizz watched him for a minute, then his gaze shifted between all of them, trying to decide whether or not it was worth it to argue. Finally, he decided that it wasn’t, nodding begrudgingly. 

“Fine. Tomorrow morning. But if any of you bastards wake me up before eight, I’m gonna kick all of your asses.”

 

~

 

Grizz awoke to the sound of someone talking and sunlight flooding the white room. When he opened his eyes, he could see white curtains billowing in the wind, and the beach was in view through the window. It was almost paradise, except for one thing, and that was Dylan, standing there talking on the phone. If Grizz closed his eyes and tuned him out, he could almost pretend that Sam was standing there instead, and they were out together, just the two of them. Almost. 

_ God, what is wrong with me?  _ There was a perfectly cute guy standing right in front of him, and all he could think about was Sam. 

“Yeah, 100% my idea. Yeah, opening up into glass walls. The building is going to look great. Kind of a helix shape? Exactly!” 

_ And that voice. Wow.  _ Grizz sleepily watched Dylan talk, not taking in the familiar looking blueprints spread on the table. Dylan turned and saw him, giving a small wave before continuing to talk.  _ I love accents. _ He repeated the words in his head, picturing the accent, and then paused.  _ Wait. Helix? Those are my- _

Grizz sat up indignantly, and almost immediately groaned. His ribs hurt like hell, and his hand flew to his side, wincing. But he pushed past that, sitting up straight and frowning. “Those are my blueprints.” 

Dylan held a finger up to his lips for a minute, talking and laughing, and then ended the call with, “I’ll call you back in a bit. Of course. No, thank you!” 

“Those are my blueprints,” Grizz repeated, raising his eyebrows. “Were you just selling them as your own?” 

“It’s not what you think,” Dylan waved a hand dismissively, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “It’s- well, you know, I think it’d just be better coming from… me. I mean, no offense, but I think I’d be better as the face of the plans.” 

“But I made them. I- what do you mean, you’d be better?” 

“Well, you know. This.” Dylan gestured vaguely at his face and patted Grizz’s arm. “It’s okay, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Speaking of…” Dylan studied Grizz for a moment. “What do you think of the name Jack?” 

“Yeah, no offense, but I really don’t think we’re at the kid stage yet-” Grizz started, bewildered as to what exactly was happening.

“No, no.” Dylan laughed, the sound rich. “For you, silly.” 

“For… me?”

“Yes! Well, I was thinking when we get married, Gareth isn’t exactly the best name.” 

“You want to change my name?”

“Exactly!” Dylan nodded enthusiastically. “Gareth and Dylan. Doesn’t sound very good, does it? But Dylan and Jack, on the other hand-”

“I’m sorry, when did it get into your head that we’re getting  _  married?” _ Asked Grizz incredulously. “And why the hell would I change my name?” 

“Cause it doesn’t match, babe,” Dylan said expectantly, as if waiting for it to click in Grizz’s head that this needed to happen. 

“We’re not getting married,” Grizz said bluntly. “I don’t know where you got that idea, but it’s not happening. And I’m not changing my name for you.” 

“I’ll let you sit and think about this. I have a meeting about those plans to go to.” Dylan leaned forward and kissed Grizz’s forehead, before ducking out of the room.

“Those are my plans!” Grizz shouted after him, but didn’t get a response back. “Asshole,” he muttered, getting up and gingerly walking over to the mirror to examine himself. He lifted up his shirt and, sure enough, there was a huge bruise spreading across one side of his ribs. “Goddamn.”

The cut on his lip was dark and noticeable, and when Grizz touched it, he winced.  _ For a rich pretty boy, he got some good swings in.  _

“Grizzy!” Came a voice from behind him, and then he was being attacked by Clark and Jason, both of them tackling him at the same time. The three of them hit the wooden floor with big thuds, and Grizz groaned. 

“Guys, seriously? I’m sore as fuck, get off.” 

Clark ruffled his hair before popping to his feet, and Jason followed, leaving Grizz to slowly pick himself up off the floor. 

“Ready to crash a wedding?” Clark’s voice was chipper, and way too excited for this time in the morning. 

“No. There will be no wedding crashing, seriously. He said no.” 

“As you’ve said. Many times.” Clark waved a hand dismissively. “He doesn’t know what he wants. He…” Clark paused, blowing out a breath. For once, he looked serious, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Even I can see that he’s had a crush on you since high school. And that’s-” Clark laughed, running his fingers through his hair and shaking his head. “That’s a long time.” 

Grizz wondered, briefly, if in this world, Gwen and Clark were together. From the way Clark was talking, Grizz could guess the answer. In his world, Clark had never gotten over Gwen, not really. For a brief period, Clark was all anger, believing that Grizz wanted to get with Gwen and that’s why she left him. He was angry at the world. And he had gotten over that eventually, but Grizz knew he still missed the dark-haired girl. 

Clark cleared his throat. “And I know you’ve liked him since high school, too. And you guys  _ happened _ to find each other after you graduated? No communication, no planning, just pure coincidence? That’s like, a sign!” 

Grizz watched as Clark said everything that he had been thinking out loud, silent. 

“You guys have been through so much together. His parents, Campbell… listen. I’m not one for cheesy stuff, you know that. But you guys… you guys are like, a fact of life. As obvious as the fact that water is wet.” 

“Actually, that statement depends on water and its molecules because a single molecule of water isn’t wet but if water molecules are attached to other water molecules that means it’s wet because the definition-”

“I know you’re not correcting me during an inspirational speech,” Clark raised his eyebrows, but there was a smile on his face, and a laugh spilled past his lips. “You are such a nerd. How do you even know that?” When Grizz sheepishly opened his mouth, Clark held up a finger, shaking his head. “Nevermind. I don’t wanna know. Look, my point is, if Sam can’t see that you guys belong together, he’s not as smart as I thought he was. You deserve someone amazing- and Sam is exactly that. So.” Clark nodded at him, and Grizz raised his eyebrows, trying not to let the amused smile show on his face.

“So what?” 

“So… are we gonna go crash a wedding or what?”

Grizz bit his lip, and the three boys in front of him waited eagerly. Finally, Grizz nodded, giving a nervous laugh that kind of just burst from his mouth. 

“We’re gonna go crash a wedding.” 


	10. The End

Grizz was pretty sure he was getting the hang of this romantic comedy thing. For instance, he was halfway to the church where Sam’s wedding was being held before he realized that driving in a car probably would have been easier than going on foot. Easier than sprinting for a mile, now. Also, he was fairly certain he was running in slow motion. This was made apparent when he seemed to be in roughly the same area ten minutes later, and a butterfly flew lazily past him, so slow that he could have reached out and touched it without breaking stride. 

But did the thought of him running to Sam instead of driving there make it seem more romantic? Yes. 

Did that mean that he was gonna do it anyway, even if highschool football had most definitely not prepared him to sprint three miles? Most definitely. 

It took Grizz about 13 more minutes before he finally reached the church, chest heaving and breath not coming in fast enough. Internally he thanked his old coach for making them run relentless sprints, positive that without him, he wouldn’t have made it here in this amount of time (though maybe rom com movie magic would’ve kicked in, too- at this point, he wasn’t sure when it decided to work it when it didn’t). He felt hot and sweaty and suddenly his skin prickled with nerves, eyes on the white church doors. Inside was the man that he was in love with, getting married to someone else. And he was really about to go in there and make a fool of himself. 

_ It’s not making a fool of yourself,  _ he scolded mentally.  _ You’re in love with him. You have to fight for him. You’re going to fight for him.  _ He allowed himself to pace for a minute, the trees casting long shadows as the sun started to set behind him. Distantly, he thought about the fact that when he left, it had only been about three. Logically, the sun shouldn’t be setting now. Once again, movie magic. But that wasn’t what was important now. 

“You can do this,” Grizz murmured to himself, slowing to a stop at the grand doors. The carvings on them were intricate, ornate pictures of creatures in the forest. His fingertips rested lightly on two squirrels, one on each door, facing each other. Then, he took a deep breath and shoved. 

The doors flew open, much lighter than he expected, and hit the walls of the church with a loud bang. Fifty pairs of eyes turned to stare at him, shock mingling with confusion lingering in each one of their gazes. Sam and Eric turned, looking just as started. As soon as Eric saw him, his face darkened, and with some satisfaction Grizz could make out bruises on Eric’s face underneath the makeup he had applied.  _ Take that, dick.  _

“Grizz?” Sam spoke, breaking the silence in the room. “What are you doing?” 

“What are  _ you  _ doing?” Grizz said breathlessly, anxiety making his heart pound so hard he was sure that everyone could hear it. His hands flew as he talked, signing so fast that he was sure he was messing some of it up. “You’re marrying this guy that you’ve known for like, a month? That’s not like you at all! Not to mention that he’s a giant- well, we’re in a church, so I’m not gonna say it but you know what I mean.” 

“Grizz-” Sam started indignantly, starting to look a little pissed off. 

“No, wait.” Grizz said, closing his eyes and trying to gather his thoughts a little bit more. “Let me try this again.” When Sam said nothing, Grizz continued. “I’m in love with you. I’ve loved you since- well, since we were 17, probably. I’ve known you since junior high, because I’ve always noticed you. I always have, I always will.” 

“I mean, god- do you know anything about him?” Grizz turned to Eric, laughing incredulously. “What’s his favorite color? His favorite animal? What’s his ideal day, or his favorite book?” 

“What is this, a security question quiz?” Eric scoffed, looking embarrassed. 

“You don’t know him. At all.” Grizz shook his head. “His favorite color’s green. He doesn’t have a favorite animal, because he can’t pick. His ideal day is sleeping in, and waking up to pancakes- pancakes, not waffles, because he likes folding the pancakes in half to make a taco and dipping it in syrup.” 

Sam’s face broke into a small smile, one that made Grizz want to kiss him right then and there. 

“Then he’d sit down with a book and read for a little bit, or watch some stupid rom com on TV because he can’t get enough of those things. And at night, it would rain and he’d turn on the fireplace, and watch a scary movie because those are the best nights for them. His favorite book is Racing in the Rain. And you didn’t know any of that.” 

Eric puffed out his chest, and Grizz could see the anger rising, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He turned his attention back to Sam and walked down the aisle until he was only a couple feet away. 

“He’s not the guy you should be marrying.” Grizz signed and spoke at the same time, voice so quiet that he could barely hear himself. But he knew that Sam could read his lips, and that was enough for him. He didn’t care if Eric or anyone else heard. “I am.” 

“I know he’s a model and rich and a yoga ambassador or whatever, and I’m not any of that. But Sam, I know you. I’ve known you for years. And I’m smart, okay? I’m smart and I’m funny and I care about you a lot. I love philosophy and I hate to admit it but I love rom coms. I love camping and animals and the country, but most importantly, I love…” and then he stopped. And he thought about what he had just said, and he exhaled softly, a sudden realization hitting them that he hadn’t thought about until now. “Myself,” he said softly. 

The laugh that burst out of his lips was sudden and unexpected, even from himself. “I love myself. That’s it. I have to learn to love myself. And I did.” 

“Are you done?” Eric said irritably, looking like he was getting ready to deck someone. Grizz couldn’t find it in himself to be bothered by this, however, and just nodded, backing up. 

“Sorry about that, guys. Continue, seriously.” He turned and pushed the doors to the church open without waiting for a response, letting out a small little laugh. The doors shut with a soft click behind him, and then he was standing in the forest. There were no sounds except the gentle tweeting of birds and chattering of squirrels up in the trees, and Grizz shut his eyes so that he could just listen for a moment. He took a deep breath of the sweet air, and then opened his eyes, looking around. To his left was a red convertible, and when Grizz squinted he could see the keys dangling from the ignition, the car already running and unlocked, just sitting there. He had to admit, he would definitely miss situations like this when he went home.

He pulled open the sleek door and got in, shutting it gently behind him. Then he put the car into drive and started driving down the road he had been running up no more than 30 minutes earlier. An easy smile graced his face, and he knew exactly what he needed to do as soon as he got home. He wasn’t going to let Sam slip away. Not this time. He was going to march right up there and-

_ Holy shit!  _ He swore loudly as a deer jumped out in the middle of the road, swerving so hard that the front of the car slammed into the nearest tree trunk. Grizz’s head hit the steering wheel hard, and everything went black. 

 

~

 

When Grizz woke up in a hospital bed and a hot doctor standing over him, it was safe to say that he wasn’t happy. 

“You are way too hot to be a doctor,” Grizz groaned, slapping his hand against his head and rubbing at his eyes like that would make him go away.  _ Did it not work? How the hell can I still be trapped here? _

“That’s because he’s not.” An old man with dark bags under his eyes pushed the hot doctor away. The hot doctor gave a little laugh and waved at Grizz, walking away with an amused look on his face. “They’re shooting some medical TV show here,” his real doctor grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Anyways, it looks like you were in an accident involving-”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember everything, don’t worry. Am I free to go?” Grizz’s heart leapt up into his throat and he sat up in the hospital bed. 

“Are you going to sue me if I turn out to be wrong and you spontaneously die?” 

“Um, no?” 

“Then yes.” The doctor answered with a careless shrug. “And your clothes were all torn up, and here’s the only thing we could find for someone as tall as you in the lost in found.” A bag was tossed at Grizz, and Grizz almost laughed out loud in relief. 

Ten minutes later, Grizz walked out of the hospital in a ratty 2X ACDC t-shirt and jeans that were too big around the waist. The streets were back to the shitty, littered streets of the real New York, and the air smelled like cigarettes, hot dogs, and vomit. At the moment, Grizz couldn’t be more grateful. Thankfully, his phone and keys hadn’t been stolen, but all of his money had. When he pulled out his phone and checked the time, he could see that there were about two hours left in the work day and that Sam was most likely still there, as well as Becca. Normal, sweet Becca.  _ Yes!  _

Grizz started the semi-long walk back to his apartment since he didn’t have any money to pay a taxi with, and about forty five minutes later he was there. There were no more flower shops or bakeries dotting every store around his apartment, but instead cheap watches that were probably stolen for sale, or shirts that said I <3 NYC on them with either neon pink, green, or orange backgrounds. He jogged up the stairs and down to where his apartment was, the one that he shared with Luke, Jason and Clark. The one that was too small, and that never had enough hot water for all of them. The one that he couldn’t be happier to see at the moment. 

He twisted the old key in the look and the door opened with a wiggle of the doorknob, something that they had never bothered to fix. He opened the door and let out a shout of “Yes!” when he saw that it was exactly the same as he had left it.

“Grizz?” Clark questioned, poking his head up from the couch where he was sitting and watching TV. “You’re home early.” 

“You would not  _ believe _ the day I’ve had!” Grizz practically threw himself on top of the couch, kicking his feet up onto Clark. The older boy rolled his eyes but didn’t move Grizz’s feet, simply resting his arms on top of them. 

“Oh yeah? What happened?” 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Trust me. Let’s go out for drinks tonight, okay? I’ll tell you guys there and you can decide if you believe me or not. For now, I have something to do.” Grizz reached up and ruffled Clark’s hair before pushing himself off the couch. 

“Oookay,” Clark watched him go with a confused smile, shaking his head and going back to his show. 

Grizz was out the door in less than 10 minutes, in some new clothes that actually fit and a mission on his mind. He took off down the streets of New York, not wanting to waste any time and also knowing that at this point in the day, a taxi might be slower than him just running it. As he slowed to a stop and entered the building, he let out a puff of breath and checked his watch, making sure he still had time. He took the elevator up the stairs and waited impatiently, heart pounding in his chest and suddenly thinking about what would happen if this all went south. What if Sam didn’t really like him back? Grizz didn’t know if he could handle that. Because Grizz knew that this was no longer a little crush that he could easily get over. 

No, Grizz was undoubtedly in love with Sam. 

His footsteps out of the elevator were shaky and uncertain, but he faked confidence as he tilted his head up and made his way across the floor and to where Sam worked. 

“Grizz! Hey, the 3-D printer is still down. Do you think-” 

“I think you should do your job,” Grizz said pointedly, cutting Dewey off mid-sentence. Dewey blinked in surprise, straightening. 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry.” Dewey scratched the back of his head awkwardly as Grizz breezed past him, ignoring Harry as he piped up.

“Grizz, can you throw this away for-”

“Not a trash can,” Grizz countered and just kept walking, over to where Sam was sitting and distractedly doing his work. As soon as the younger boy saw Grizz he perked up, worry erasing from his face.

_ “Hey! I was worried about you. You didn’t come back from lunch, so-”  _

_ “I need to talk to you.” _ Grizz said seriously, hands clenched to keep them from shaking out of nervousness. 

_ “What’s up?”  _

_ “It’s not realistic.”  _ Grizz signed, and Sam furrowed his eyebrows, looking confused. Realizing he had only said what he was thinking in his head and not out loud, he pointed to the window outside, and the billboard that had the dark-haired model with abs in swim shorts.  _ “That. It’s not realistic. The stupid model that you’re always staring at? There are so many better options and that-  _ why  _ are you laughing?”  _ He signed in frustration, folding his arms over his chest. Sam faltered in his laughing just a little, getting up from his seat. 

_ “Sit.”  _

_ “What? Why?”  _ Grizz stared at him, confusion reflected on his face. 

_ “Just sit. Then, look over there, and tell me what you see.” _

Obediently, Grizz sat, turning to look.  _ “I see the model.”  _

_ “Okay. Now give me a sec. Stay there.”  _ Grizz shot Sam a confused look, but he did what the shorter boy said, and watched Sam make his way across the office and to Grizz’s own desk. Sam then pulled out Grizz’s chair and sat in it, pulling himself up to the desk as if he was working. Then, he turned the chair just slightly so that Grizz could see him, and Grizz tilted his head in confusion.  _ “Still see the model?”  _ Sam signed, clear enough that Grizz could still understand him at the distance. 

Grizz blinked and focused on the billboard, but the model was completely hidden by Sam’s body. And then it hit him, exactly what Sam was getting at.  _ He’s been staring at… me? _ Slowly, Grizz shook his head at Sam, indicating that no, he could no longer see the model. 

Sam’s smile was soft and shy as he made his way back to Grizz, sitting down beside him.  _ “What did you see?”  _

_ “You.”  _ Grizz answered slowly, already knowing where this was going. 

_ “Which means that I see…?”  _

_ “Me,”  _ Grizz spoke and signed at the same time, exhaling softly. “Oh.” 

_ “Sorry if that seems weird, it’s just-”  _ Sam started, suddenly looking nervous. Grizz shook his head, cutting him off.

_ “It’s not weird. And actually, it makes me feel a little better about what I’m gonna say next.”  _ Grizz exhaled and looked down at his hands, which had started shaking again without him noticing.  _ “Sam, I’m in love with you. And I can’t tell you how long I have been, but it’s true. I just never realized it until now. But this weird thing just happened to me, and long story short, it made me realize that I don’t want to live life without at least taking the chance and trying to be with you. So… yeah. I’m in love with you. I love you.”  _

_ “Grizz,”  _ Sam signed softly, and then paused, clearing his throat. Without signing, Sam said slowly, “I’m in love with you, too.” Grizz left out a visible sigh of relief, letting out a tense laugh. Sam let one out too, an a smile lit up the ginger’s face.  _ “I have been for a while. I always asked you out and you never said yes, so I figured you didn’t feel the same way. I’m glad I was wrong.”  _

_ “I’m sorry, I just never- well, I guess I never understood that’s what it was? Becca says I’m oblivious. So did you, actually. And I guess you guys are right.”  _

_ “In that case, would you maybe wanna go on a date with me, then?”  _

_ “Do you even really need to ask that?”  _ At that, they both laughed, and Grizz couldn’t help the smile that settled on his face.  _ “After work, then?”  _

_ “Yeah,”  _ Sam signed, reflecting Grizz’s smile. 

_ “And on the way, I can tell you about this crazy dream I had.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long! I think I wasn't ready for this story to end. I've had it mostly finished for weeks now, all I needed was about two more sentences, and I could never make myself finish it, but here it is. I'll be updating and fixing some bugs and stuff in it, but other than that, it's all finished!


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